The parliamentary imbalance threatens to undermine the tax reform that the government has undertaken with the European Commission as part of the structural budget plan, and which still does not garner enough support to be approved by the Congress of Deputies. The Finance Committee will decide today whether to continue examining the text – and with it the amendments tabled by the Socialists two weeks ago – after parliamentary groups made no progress last week last. The agreement that the government signed with Junts, and which provides for the withdrawal of the permanence of the tax on energy companies, deprived the support of three other groups essential for its approval: ERC, Podemos and Bildu, to which Sumar adheres.
The left-wing formations of the PSOE maintain their rejection by understanding that The reform must include “yes or yes” the introduction of the tax on electricity companies into the tax system Spanish. Something which – in turn – would imply the de facto rejection of those of Carles Puigdemont, considering that the tax would jeopardize the investment of 1,100 million euros that Repsol has projected in Tarragona, to build a plant for the conversion of urban waste into fuel.
“The text proposed by the PSOE is one more piece which does not resolve the imbalances in the system”, underline sources from the coalition partner, who consider it necessary to address a “structural” reform guaranteeing an increase in income in the event of disinflation. scenarios, such as and how experts defend themselves. Sumar had put on the table for the negotiation of the 2025 draft budget an ambitious tax package with which they aspire to increase revenues by 26.8 billion euros per year. It includes, among other things, the permanence of the banking and energy tax, with the intention of bringing in some 2.6 billion euros each year. The future of the tribute to the electricity companies could fall into the hands of the Popular Party, which could end up deciding between the position of the PSOE and the Junts, or that of the rest of the parties in the investiture bloc.
Among the socialist amendments, there is – in addition – a transactional amendment agreed with the PNV, for guarantee the continuity of the bank tax. The Basque nationalists managed to soften the PSOE proposal and transform the tax into a tax on the interest margin and commissions of the entities, so that it could be managed by the provincial treasuries.
The socialists also don’t have strong support for the other changes they are considering. Among them, the increase in the maximum rate of personal income tax to 29% for capital income above 300,000 euros, which aims to give greater fairness to the tax compared to that imposed on labor income. Sumar considers the measure insufficient and considers that it is very far from the increase to 33% that the party proposed a few weeks ago to the first vice-president, María Jesús Montero.
The PSOE proposal also includes the commitment to promote the modification of the VAT Directive in the EU, with the aim of levying this tax on tourist accommodation rental platforms, such as Airbnb, in areas where the abundance of these housing makes access difficult. housing or in saturated areas. This is the ViDA package (VAT in the digital age), which the government considers “a priority”.
The PSOE seeks to deepen its tax reform through amendments to the bill aimed at establishing a global minimum tax of 15% for multinational companies, whose parliamentary journey is already advanced. The objective is for all of these tax measures to come into force on January 1, 2025.
New taxes
The socialist group proposes creating a new tax on e-liquids and other tobacco-related products such as vaporizers or nicotine sachets. Likewise, it is planned to update the taxation of taxes on tobacco products, with the aim of increase the price of these products and thus discourage their consumption.
The PSOE also seeks to reform corporate tax to counter the ruling of the Constitutional Court which declared the partial nullity of a reform of this tax carried out by the former Minister of Finance, Cristóbal Montoro. Thus, a limit is set again so that large companies or groups of companies can apply deductions to compensate for negative tax bases. The limit is 50% per year for companies with a turnover of between 20 million and 60 million euros and 25% for those exceeding 60 million.
In another amendment of the PSOE, which, according to Junts, was negotiated with them, it is proposed to gradually reduce this tax for companies with a net turnover of less than one million euros. Compared to the 23% currently imposed on these companies, the Socialist Group proposes to lower the tax so that the part of the tax base up to 50,000 euros is taxed at the rate of 17% in 2027, and the remaining part at 20%.
