Foment del Treball remarked this Wednesday that the wealth tax would be "confiscatory" and, therefore, would violate article 31.1 of the Constitution. Within this framework, the debate organized by the employers' association chaired by Josep Sánchez Llibre was held in Madrid and in which three experts in the field participated: Gabriel Casado Ollero, professor of financial and tax law at the Complutense University; Juan Ignacio Moreno, Constitutional lawyer; and Dimitry Berberoff, Supreme Court Justice. Foment presented last week an appeal of unconstitutionality against the rate.
The three highlighted that Spain does not have a percentage from which a tax figure would be confiscatory. It is only considered to have it if it reaches 100% of the economic capacity of the taxpayer. It is an anomaly in relation to countries like France or Germany, which set the limit at 50%, defended the jurists.
Juan Ignacio Moreno explained that, in effect, article 31.1 of the Constitution imposes on the legislator that the "fair tax system will in no case have a confiscatory scope." Under this premise, a tax is confiscatory when it is arbitrary or disproportionate, he defended. Berberoff, for his part, alluded to the fact that the confiscatory scope of a tax is set depending on the tax base and the economic capacity of the taxpayers. In this sense, the Supreme Court magistrate defended that there should be a "limit to non-confiscation."
Foment del Treball puts a pike in Madrid. The Catalan employers' association presented this Wednesday in the capital the new projection of the Barcelona Society for Economic and Social Studies (SBEES) with the aim of serving as a link point for Catalan companies with the rest of the country's autonomous communities and, also, with the intention of influencing the great national debates.
The Barcelona Society for Economic and Social Studies will open a branch in Madrid next September, as announced by the president of Foment, Josep Sánchez Llibre. “We want to be present in Madrid to project our thinking to the whole of Spain, to enhance the relevant role of Spanish capitals such as Seville, Malaga, Valencia, Bilbao, Zaragoza, A Coruña, etc. as a space for interaction or economic and cultural intersection”, has explained the businessman.
The president of the Barcelona Society for Economic Studies will be Jordi García Viña, professor of Labor Law and Social Security at the University of Barcelona and former director of labor relations at the CEOE during the Joan Rosell period.
This new 'lobby' of the Catalan business world is sponsored by the La Caixa Foundation, Agbar, PwC and Mutua Madrileña. The objective is to be part of the economic debate, "not of some autonomous communities against others, but rather by creating a common work space to find common solutions," say sources involved in the project. The epicenter of the Barcelona Society is called "Spain Metropolis", the project to promote Catalan companies in the rest of the country.
The presentation ceremony of the Barcelona Society, which was held in the Caixa Forum space in Madrid, was attended by business leaders and some. It was possible to see the president of Ceim, the Madrid employers' association, Miguel Garrido or the person in charge of Cepyme, Gerardo Cuerva. The president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, on a trip to Valencia, did not attend, although in recent days he has oiled his relationship with Foment thanks to the salary agreement, sources close to the conversations explained. The former Minister of Justice, Alberto Ruiz Gallardón, or the PDeCAT deputy, Ferrán Bel, were also among those present.
