Pärnu Deputy Mayor Meelis Kukk told ERR the city is responsible for waste management and maintaining public spaces even though income taxes from vacation rental owners go to the local governments of their registered primary residence

He noted that the second home tax would apply to people who own multiple residences, and the revenue for the local government where the property is located could be collected in two ways.

"First, through a real estate tax, which would be an additional new charge," Kukk explained. "The second option would be a registration fee, where people with multiple homes would be registered in both local governments, and the income tax revenue would be divided proportionally between the two local governments — without increasing the overall tax burden for property owners."

He added that he personally favors the second option, where the tax would be shared between the different local governments where a person owns property.

According to the deputy mayor, a second home tax would affect 8–10 percent of Pärnu's real estate.

He noted that the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture, which is handling changes to the Local Taxes Act, must now analyze the proposals made by the City of Pärnu.

Coalition partners say tax was Kukk's own initiative

Pärnu Deputy Mayor Irina Talviste, chair of the Reform Party's Pärnu chapter, said Tuesday that the new real estate tax idea was proposed by electoral alliance leader Meelis Kukk and does not reflect the city's official position.

"It was not coordinated with the rest of the city government in any way, and only represents the stance of the leader of Pärnu Unites electoral alliance, not the overall position of the Pärnu city government," Talviste said. "I'd be surprised if Kukk had even thoroughly discussed this real estate tax letter with his own electoral alliance."

The deputy mayor condemned Kukk's actions, as the proposals submitted to the ministry had not been coordinated with the city government beforehand.

Even so, she acknowledged that the distribution of taxes for people living in multiple locations still merits discussion.

"It's really not fair that all the tax revenue goes to Tallinn when someone lives in Pärnu most or half of the time," Talviste said. "But that's a completely different matter from the real estate tax the electoral alliance is dreaming of."

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