The Generalitat has confirmed that –unlike most of the autonomous communities– it rejects a reduction in income tax to offset the impact of runaway inflation. In an intervention in Parliament, the Minister of Economy, Natàlia Mas, has been opposed to loosening the fiscal pressure through a deflation of the tax brackets because she assured that low incomes (30% of those who earn the least) will only be They would save three euros. What she has not detailed is what is the percentage of calculated deflation that gives that minimum reduction in personal income tax. In other communities, deflation has a much greater impact. For the 30% of citizens with the highest income, the savings from a deflation is 24 euros, always according to the calculations of the Minister, without detailing the volume of the deflation.
On the other hand, the new person in charge of Economy of the Generalitat has assured that the cost for the finances of the Government would be 54 million euros. That amount is a very small percentage with respect to the increase in income that the Generalitat will receive this year in terms of income tax collection forecast. Although the figure is not public because it will appear in the budgets (which have not yet been presented), taking into account the increases in other communities, the increase in income from personal income tax by 2023 will be several billion. This expected increase in collection is what allows, in large part, to increase the spending of the next budgets by 3,000 million. On these budgets, the councilor has made a "call for responsibility" of the parties to approve them.
In Parliament, the minister explained that the benefits of deflation are "ridiculous" for taxpayers, while the "losses for public services have a very high impact." But she has said that "we will use the normative capacity to correct negative externalities."
Mas's decision contrasts with that of his predecessor in office (Jaume Giró), who on the same day he resigned revealed that his intention was to deflate personal income tax like the rest of the regional governments.
The deflation of personal income tax consists of increasing the amount of the vital and family minimums and the income brackets in the same percentage in which the salaries grew. The objective is to prevent the salary increase – which seeks to cushion inflation – from implying that the percentage of personal income tax paid by the taxpayer is higher.
