Escrivá is open to reducing the fee for high-income self-employed workers

The agreement to revolutionize the current contribution system for the self-employed so that each one pays according to their income may be very close.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
24 June 2022 Friday 15:30
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Escrivá is open to reducing the fee for high-income self-employed workers

The agreement to revolutionize the current contribution system for the self-employed so that each one pays according to their income may be very close. At yesterday's meeting, the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security showed a willingness to lower the fees for high incomes, which could facilitate an agreement at the next meeting, to be held on Monday.

It is one of the constant claims of the employers and ATA that, since the beginning of these negotiations, have insisted that the self-employed with more income cannot accept quota increases as high as those proposed by the ministry. Yesterday, ATA once again requested the reduction of the upper sections and the representatives of the ministry showed a "willingness" to accept it, according to what sources from the negotiation have indicated to La Vanguardia.

For their part, the self-employed organizations linked to the unions insisted on another reduction, that of the quota for self-employed workers with less income. It is difficult to imagine that the Government makes a concession to some and not to the rest, with which, a reduction in some sections both in the low income and in the medium-high income may be the option that the ministry proposes in the coming days.

Let us remember that in his last proposal of June 13, Minister José Luis Escrivá proposed fourteen contribution base tranches based on net income, which involve quotas ranging from a minimum of 245 euros to a maximum of 565 euros. At that time, the ministry also introduced a reduction for average incomes as a formula to get the support of employers and ATA. It was not enough, and now you will have to modify these sections once again.

However, the ministry's assessment of yesterday's meeting is positive, noting that "important progress" had been made and that with the contributions of the self-employed associations it will present a new proposal to discuss on Monday. On the part of the employers' association and ATA, the tone of the rejection was more moderate than on previous occasions, acknowledging that “meeting points” had taken place, although not enough. They continue without giving their approval to the plan and point out that "we have transferred to the Government that our proposal was along another line, taking into account the circumstances and we are going to wait, in principle, for what is the proposal that it sends us," said Lorenzo Love, president of ATA.

Also UATAE, the association linked to CC.OO., demanded modifications insisting that it is not acceptable for a self-employed person with an income of 500 euros to pay 50% of the contribution and one with more than 4,000 pay 14%. “The effort must be more distributed”, they insisted from this association.

More satisfied was UPTA, the association linked to UGT, which described the meeting as very positive and a step forward. However, its president, Eduardo Abad, demanded that "the self-employed with the worst returns have an even greater reduction than the one that the Government puts on the table", something that he considered essential. According to his calculations, with this proposal 2.4 million self-employed people will see their Social Security contribution reduced, without reducing their rights.

It is the final stretch of a long negotiation in which the power to choose the contribution base is to be corrected, which is described as a "distortion" that supposes a loss of resources for the system and a lower level of protection for the freelancers.