Vox will once again seek PP and Junts to eliminate the wealth tax in Congress. Those of Santiago Abascal will present to the Finance Commission a non-law proposal (PNL) aimed at eliminating the tax that a good part of the LACC governed by the Popular Party was obliged to reactivate, to prevent the State from taking in charge of its collection through the Taxes on Large Fortunes. According to the initiative registered by the far-right group, the tax “generates territorial inequalities”given that several regions applied bonuses close to 100%, and others did not. “For the same taxable event, two Spanish citizens residing for tax purposes in a different region will be taxed differently,” explains Vox to PNL. Recall that the wealth tax collected 1,911 million in 2023, 55% more than the previous year, after Madrid, Andalusia and Galicia removed the bonus to ensure part of the income.
This is not the first time that the Lower House has debated this issue. Last March, Junts proposed removing the tax through an amendment to the anti-crisis decree presented by the government. Those from Puigdemont also included the measure in the electoral program with which they presented themselves in the Catalan elections on May 12. For this reason, Vox takes the support of separatists for granted.
The same thing happens with the Popular Party. Those of Núñez Feijóo have planned a tax offensive, eliminating taxes in -almost- all the regions they govern thanks to a network of bonuses. A battle to which Moncloa responded by promoting the Great Fortune Tax, which managed to collect 623 million euros in its first year, thus achieving its final objective: forcing the regional presidents of the PP to recover the heritage . The popular leader himself promised during the 23-J electoral campaign to remove the tax on wealth exceeding 3 million euros and to “return” the assets to the CCAA, even if this figure is transferred to the regions.
Former minister Cristóbal Montoro considered abolishing the patrimony in 2014, following the White Paper on the reform of the tax system commissioned by the government of Mariano Rajoy. The experts chosen by the man who was then at the head of the Treasury recommended the “formal and definitive” abolition of taxes; Of course – contrary to what Feijóo defended – they advocated that the figure “nor could it be established as a tax of its own by the Autonomous Communities”. Ultimately, Montoro decided to ignore his experts’ advice and maintained Patrimony. On the contrary, the OECD recommends reducing “the number of tax exemptions and reliefs” that territories have applied to taxes for years. For its part, the white paper commissioned in 2022 by the current Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, insists on the need to maintain the tax, but by increasing the minimum exempt to one million euros.
Despite the opinion of experts, PP, Vox and Junts could once again join forces to promote an initiative contrary to the interests of the government, at a time when the withdrawal of postconverged of Pedro Sánchez’s inauguration bloc, is more than obvious. A few weeks ago, ERC spokesperson Gabriel Rufián warned that Puigdemont, Abascal and Feijóo were creating a “right-wing bloc” that would “take” the PP leader “to Moncloa” .
Meanwhile, Montero continues to negotiate with Junts his support for a new path of stability that will unlock the presentation of the budgetary project for 2025, which the government plans to undertake at the end of November. The new budgetary roadmap must be finalized before October 15, the date on which the Economy has undertaken to send to Brussels the structural budgetary plan, which must integrate the agreed distribution of the deficit over the coming years. To achieve this consensus, the Puigdemontais are demanding a budgetary margin close to 0.8%.
