The government announced yesterday afternoon that it would reduce the extraordinary tax on energy companies, which expired on December 31, while it agreed with Junts and PNV to maintain that of banks, a tax that provides a 25% deduction in companies and which will be progressive and that the Basque provincial domains will be able to self-manage after the agreement concluded this Wednesday with the Basque nationalists.
The PSOE will transform the extraordinary tax on banks into a tax on the interests and commissions of the entities financial which will be in force in the next three years, until 2028, and through an amendment to the bill aimed at creating a global minimum tax of 15% for large multinationals, the Socialist Group transforms what was an advantage not property tax into a tax advantage, which will allow the provincial treasuries of Euskadi and Navarra to manage the tax.
But even if the focus was only on banking and energy rates, the government “infiltrated” through the back door, through other amendments in negotiation with its partner Sumar and with agreements already “advanced” , other tax increases that affect diesel, vapes and tobacco or big savers.
The government has already tried to equate the taxation of diesel and gasoline, as requested by Brussels, but the measure was rejected by the PNV opposition. From now on, the government will increase the taxes paid on automobile diesel by 9.37 cents per liter (the general rate will increase from 0.307 euros per liter to 0.40069 euros) to equal that of gasoline, a measure which will not will not apply to professionals.
This measure, which was included in a PSOE amendment to the law that regulates the minimum rate for multinationals, aims to integrate the environmental costs derived from road transport and contribute to moderating greenhouse gases. Despite this, the proposal provides that in certain circumstances, the general tax rate will drop to 0.35 euros per liter, in particular when the price of diesel exceeds two euros per liter for two consecutive months and the average price of a barrel of Brent during the second month these months are greater than the first.
If this change is applied, automotive diesel will pay a total of 0.47269 euros per liter of hydrocarbon tax (0.40069 euros for the general rate and 0.072 euros for the special rate), like gasoline, instead of 0.379 euros per liter currently (0.307 euros for the general rate and 0.072 euros for the special rate).
Tax on vaping and tobacco
There will also be tax increases on vaping and tobacco. Concerning vapers, the amendment establishes that liquid for electronic cigarettes containing less than 15 milligrams of nicotine per milliliter of product will pay 0.15 euros per milliliter and 0.20 euros if the quantity of nicotine is greater. Nicotine sachets and other nicotine-based products will cost 0.10 euros per gram. The PSOE explains that it was decided to create this tax following the increase in the marketing of electronic cigarettes and the significant proportion of adolescents and young adults who use them, pending the European directive which harmonizes the taxation of these products.
Likewise, taxes on tobacco will be increased from January 1, 2025, given that it is a “relevant source of revenue for territorial treasuries” and because it is an instrument in the service of health policy, as justified by the socialist amendment, which underlines that the increase in the price of tobacco discourages its consumption.
Personal income tax savings amount to 29% for high incomes
The PSOE also proposes to increase the taxation of savings for high incomes, so that Income above 300,000 euros will give rise to a personal income tax of 29% for this bracket.which is one point more than today (0.5 point at the state level and 0.5 point at the regional level).
Likewise, it proposes to neutralize the impact on revenue of the annulment by the Constitutional Court of the corporate tax reforms of the PP through the limitation of the compensation of the negative tax bases of large companies and of deductions for double taxation, as well as with the resumption of depreciation.
The rule which only allows half of the tax bases of companies to be offset by the groups of which they are part is also extended by two years (2024 and 2025).
On the contrary, it poses a reduction in corporate tax for companies that invoice less than 1 million euroswhich will pay 17% for the first 50,000 euros of taxable income and 20% for the rest, instead of the current 23%.
Rentals
Another amendment provides that the government will favor the modification of the VAT directive to allow the taxation of short-term rentals, less than 30 days, in areas where these accommodations make access to housing difficult or involve tourist saturation.
This would imply that These short-term rentals would no longer be exempt from VAT and they would be taxed in the same way as hotel accommodation.
