The tax reduction proposed by the Government of the Generalitat has generally been well received by the parliamentary groups that should support it and by employers and business organizations. The unions, however, are asking that the loss of income from the measure be compensated by an increase in the tax pressure on high incomes.
The proposal of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, led by Natàlia Mas, is the reduction of one point (from 10.5 to 9.5%) in taxation in the first tranche of personal income tax, as as La Vanguardia advanced yesterday. This change would benefit 2.6 million taxpayers. The savings would be around 125 euros per person.
The Minister of Economy declared yesterday that the upward correction of the maximum deficit allowed to the communities and the "improvement in the financing of the Generalitat" through the agreements for the investiture "we believe that it must have an impact on the citizens , it must be a tangible issue, especially for those most affected by the increase in the cost of living".
Although the budgetary impact of the measure has not been made public, some sources estimate that it could exceed 100 million euros. Beneficiaries are those with a taxable base of 33,000 euros or less, which in terms of gross salary represents around 35,000 euros or less. The president of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Josep Santacreu, said that given the favorable context of increased tax revenues due to the strength of the labor market, the proposal "does not mean a significant decrease in revenue nor does it call into question the budgetary stability of the Generalitat".
From the PSC, its spokesperson, Elia Tortolero, assured that "the music sounds good", but that it is necessary to "be able to study it when we know the proposal in detail and this is how the parliamentary group will do it". The economic spokesperson of the commons, Joan Carles Gallego, declared that they do not like the measure, but that they are open to talking with the Government about other compensatory proposals.
Junts celebrates that the Executive of Pere Aragonès is now adopting one of the proposals that they put on the table a year ago during the budget negotiations. "We welcome ERC to the tax reduction. Last year, the Government flatly refused," detailed the vice-president and spokesperson for the training, Josep Rius.
The employers' association Foment positively assessed the measure in the words of its president, Josep Sánchez Llibre. "Now Catalonia is in the Spanish average", he said. And he added that "we have a lot of fiscal pressure and we need competitive taxation". He insisted that "we still have the property tax, which is confiscatory, because you pay twice".
In a similar vein, the president of Pimec, Antoni Cañete, declared that "reducing the fiscal pressure on wages is a positive measure for the labor market". According to the president of the employers' association of SMEs, the tax cut "can lead to the indirect creation of jobs: workers have additional income for the same effort, which encourages consumption and is particularly relevant at the moment following the inflationary pressure". Cañete added that "this measure should not be the only one in reducing taxes, since business taxation in Catalonia is less competitive than that of other regions, a fact that slows down the competitiveness of business and the country". He also spoke of the need to abolish the wealth tax and subsidize the inheritance tax.
On the other hand, Nuria Gilgado, from UGT Catalunya, criticized the measure because it means a loss of revenue. According to his opinion, the possible reduction must be accompanied by an increase in fiscal pressure on the upper band. It is the same opinion defended by Ricard Bellera, from CC.OO. Catalonia They also do not like the deletion of sections, because the progressiveness of the tax is reduced.
