The government will be able to promote tax reform after reaching an agreement with Podemos, which will support the tax package voted on today in Congress. The agreement – reached through the horn – comes after 72 frantic hours during which those of Ione Belarra pushed the negotiation with Minister Félix Bolaños to the end. The Executive is committed to approving before December 31 a bill aimed at promoting a tax on large energy companies “compatible with the non-taxation of investments that compromise decarbonization”, according to Podemos in a press release. If it cannot move forward, the agreement requires the approval of a royal decree in 2025. At the same time, the Treasury managed to obtain the vote in favor of ERC, Bildu and BNG on the text in the early hours of Monday. In this way, Moncloa guarantees the approval of the tightening of the bank rate and the imposition of a tax of a minimum rate of 15% on multinationals.
In this way, the Executive integrates the last pieces of a complex puzzle parliamentary which allows it to save the norm and comply with Brussels. The bill that will be approved today by Congress formalizes the transposition of the European directive on the tax on multinationals and satisfies the current stage that will release the fifth tranche of European funds, unlocking 7.2 billion euros. It also strengthens the structural budget plan that the Economy sent to von der Leyen’s team, and which counts on compliance with European rules for the approval of a tax reform capable of raising 4.5 billion euros more every year.
To the revenues from bank tax and the minimum rate of 15% for multinationals, the Treasury will add those from the technical corrections of corporate tax due to the changes introduced by former minister Montoro in 2016, and which were annulled by the Constitutional Court. . , those which will be generated by the tax on electronic cigarettes and the increase in taxes on tobacco products, and the hundreds of millions that the tax authorities lose each year because of VAT fraud on hydrocarbons. In total, it is estimated that the plan approved today could generate revenues close to 4 billion euros per year.
That of Podemos was the last of the necessary supports that the government still had to close to guarantee the approval of the fiscal package. The established network of conventions gives continuity to the bank tax beyond December 31, the expiry date of the current temporary tax. The new tax – agreed between the coalition and Junts, and signed by the rest of the left groups – creates a progressive scale that will tax income from the difference between commissions and the interest margin of financial entities. The rate will apply at a maximum of 7% to tax bases exceeding 5,000 million euros. From there, it establishes different tranches of 3 billion, taxed at a rate of 6%; 4.8% for tax bases exceeding 1,500 million, or 3.5% from 750 million.
In addition – as elEconomista.es advances – it establishes a distribution of the collection between the autonomous communities according to their regional GDP, and transfers its management to the provincial treasuries. Thus, Navarre and the Basque Country could modify rates, conditions of application such as exemptions, and even apply fee reductions, for the benefit of banks with their head office in these territories. Added to this is the other main new feature. The rate will begin to be imposed on foreign entities with activity in Spain and which generate income included in the scale of brackets.
Alongside the approved text, a further increase of one point in the maximum rate of personal income tax for capital income above 300,000 euros will also be considered, which will rise to 29%. This is the third increase in this tax in four years. Also the creation of a tax on vapers, the increase in taxes on tobacco products, the correction of the Montoro corporate reform and modifications to avoid tax evasion in the payment of VAT on hydrocarbons.
Most of the measures included in the agreement between the PSOE and Sumar do not enjoy sufficient support. The plenary will reject – barring any surprises – the removal of tax exemptions for SOCIMI, private health insurance and accommodation for tourist use. It is also expected that the Lower House will also remove the tax on luxury goods. All these measures are proposals signed by Yolanda Díaz.
