Fedea takes the lead in the debate on regional funding. He think tank led by Angel of the Fountain was very critical of the agreement signed between the PSC and the ERC aimed at creating a kind of fiscal agreement for Catalonia similar to the one that governs the Basque Country. For this reason, he opened a “reflection process” to put on the table an alternative proposal for reform of the financing system.
Fedea will carry out this process in close collaboration with the Olof Palme International Foundation (FIOP), “an entity close to the CPS”as the study center describes it. This foundation is headed by a historic leader of Catalan socialism, Anna Balletbo.
During a press conference, Fedea announced yesterday that this debate will materialize in a day of discussion, which will take place next January, and in a series of working documents which will be published in the weeks preceding and following this day. .
“The objective is to promote a frank, orderly and constructive debate between public finance specialists who support and oppose the PSC and ERC proposal, in the hope of identifying possible elements of consensus which make possible a concerted reform of the regional financing system improves its design and operation”, explained the. think tank.
Despite the desire to approach the debate in an integrated manner, De la Fuente drew attention to certain issues. So, andThe economist refutes the thesis of underfinancing of Catalonia on which the PSC-ERC agreement is based to justify the community’s exit from the common system. “Catalonia has always been close to the average financing per capita adjusted to the same tax effort,” he explained.
In fact, the Catalan community is slightly above average, at 0.9%. On the other hand, Murcia, Andalusia, Castile-La Mancha and the Valencian Community are not behind the average.
Furthermore, De la Fuente argued that no changes to the system should compromise either the principle of interterritorial solidarity or the autonomy of the central administration. However, the specialist defended the controversial principle of ordinality provided that it is measured per capita and in an adjusted manner.
Fedea’s four “ingredients”
Faced with the PSC-ERC model, which Fedea describes as “the beginning of confederal drift”, The entity lists four axes – “ingredients”, in its own words – to reach a consensus on financing reform this appeals to all territories: a single tax administration structured in a consortium of 16 instead of 15 consortia of two; compliance with the adjusted per capita average; a very high leveling but not total, and the conversion of status quo clauses into transitional compensations which make it possible to make the necessary changes in the territorial distribution of public resources within a reasonable time frame.
The embryo of the proposal
For its part, Balletbò highlighted that the current initiative is linked to a previous reflection exercise coordinated between the two entities. This is the edition of S’Agaró Meetings organized between 2015 and 2016 in various Spanish cities.
This occasion brought together the points of view of tax experts who were already considering the need to promote an update of regional financing based on revenue autonomy and fiscal co-responsibility of the territories.
He also participated in the information meeting Miguel Ángel García Díaz (URJC and FEDEA), who presented the first work of the new series of documents, which includes in detail the important role played by central administrationl ensure adequacy and equity across the state, so that all citizens can receive a similar level of public services when making a similar budgetary effort.
The loss of a significant part of their income following the extension of the economic consultation regime to Catalonia would reduce their capacity to carry out these tasks, generating serious harm, in particular for residents of low-income territories.
