A proposal for the Govern de les Illes Balears

Movement is medicine. Let’s prove it — and tax it like it.

Gym memberships in Spain are taxed at 21% — the same VAT rate as luxury goods — while physical inactivity quietly drives up the public cost of medication, GP visits and chronic illness. Active Balears is a 12-month community pilot in Palma and Calvià that will measure, person by person, how regular exercise changes wellbeing and healthcare dependence — and turn that evidence into the case for restoring the reduced 10% rate on fitness.

See the pilot design Start with the evidence

The argument in numbers

Four numbers carry the whole case.

0%
VAT charged on sports services in Spain since 2012 — the top rate, up from a reduced 8%.
€1→0
Estimated healthcare saving per euro invested in physical activity over 10–15 years (Generalitat de Catalunya study).
0%
The reduced VAT rate the EU Court of Justice confirmed in 2022 that Spain may legally apply to sporting facilities.
0mo
Length of the proposed Palma & Calvià pilot — long enough that European schemes show measurable health outcomes.

Explore the proposal

Five sections, one connected case.

Each page below stands alone, but they are designed to be read in order: what the world already knows, why the tax is wrong, who will fund the work, how the pilot runs, and how the data is captured.

01 · Evidence

What the world is already doing

Exercise referral and “social prescribing” schemes across Europe — what they found, what works, and the €1→€50 saving that anchors our case.

Read the evidence → 02 · The tax case

21% on health, 10% on bullfights

How sport ended up at the top VAT rate, the 2022 EU court ruling that unlocks a reduction, and the sectors that already enjoy lower rates.

See the tax case → 03 · EU funding

Money that already exists for this

Erasmus+ Sport, EU4Health and Horizon Europe — grant ranges from €30k to €2M, what each funds, and the route we recommend.

Explore funding routes → 04 · The pilot

Palma & Calvià, 12 months, 300–500 people

The design of the trial: who takes part, the consortium behind it, the timeline, and the milestones from launch to evidence dossier.

See the pilot design → 05 · Data & app

How we measure every participant

Baseline health measures, validated questionnaires, the monthly 3-minute check-in, and the four-table data model behind the app.

See the data model →

The full path

How it all connects, end to end.

Every element of this proposal exists for one reason: to move policy. The chain below is the whole project in six links — remove any one and the chain breaks.

Link 1 · Evidence

Stand on what Europe already knows

Two decades of exercise-referral results give us the design template and the opening argument. We do not ask government to take a leap of faith — we ask it to replicate a proven model locally.

Link 2 · Consortium

Assemble partners no minister can wave away

Town halls, the university, the health service, the gym sector and its national federation. Each partner closes a different credibility gap: civic, scientific, clinical, commercial, political.

Link 3 · Funding

Let Brussels pay for the proof

EU programmes already fund physical-activity-as-health projects. External money means the pilot is not dependent on the goodwill of the very government we are trying to persuade.

Link 4 · Pilot

Run a clean 12-month trial in Palma & Calvià

300–500 residents, GP referral, validated instruments, an independent university evaluation. Designed so the methodology survives hostile scrutiny.

Link 5 · Data

Convert wellbeing into euros

Quality-of-life scores translate into the cost-benefit language treasuries understand. The dossier pairs human stories with a fiscal model of the 10% rate.

Link 6 · Policy

Two-track political push

Track one: the Govern Balear deploys regional levers immediately. Track two: Balearic evidence plus FNEID’s national campaign carries the 10% VAT case to Madrid.

What we are formally proposing

The asks, in plain terms

  • 1
    To the ayuntamientos of Palma & Calvià: co-sponsor the pilot, lend municipal venues and communication channels, and seat one representative each on the steering committee.
  • 2
    To the Govern de les Illes Balears: endorse the pilot, facilitate IB-Salut and primary-care participation, and commit to reviewing the evidence dossier formally at month 18.
  • 3
    To IB-Salut: authorise a GP referral pathway and ethics review so participation carries clinical weight.
  • 4
    To the fitness sector & FNEID: deliver the activity programmes, share anonymised attendance data, and align the national VAT campaign with the pilot’s publication calendar.
  • 5
    To UIB: act as independent scientific evaluator and co-applicant on research-grade EU funding.
  • 6
    The end goal: on the dossier’s evidence, the Govern formally petitions the national government to restore the 10% reduced VAT rate to fitness services — while enacting the regional incentives it already controls.

The ultimate objective

To persuade the Balearic and, ultimately, the Spanish national government that prevention beats treatment — and that the fastest, fairest lever they hold is restoring the reduced 10% VAT rate on fitness memberships and sports services. This pilot exists to hand them the evidence they need to say yes.