The three formations that start in the lead for the Catalan elections on Sunday —ERC, Junts and the PSC— have taken a profile in the debate on taxation.
This silence contrasts with the fact that Catalonia is one of the autonomous regions with the greatest tax pressure and with the fact that the republicans have asked the central government to “harmonize” certain taxes, especially to compensate for the competence of the Community of Madrid.
Ciudadanos has brought up the issue, just as the PP candidate, Alejandro Fernández, did this Wednesday, who once again used the formula "fiscal hell" to describe the situation.
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The Generalitat is the autonomous administration that levies income tax the most on those who charge up to 30,000 euros and is at the head of the wealth and inheritance tax rates.
In addition, Catalonia is the community that has more of its own taxes, up to 18, according to the latest report from the General Council of Economists.
Despite the fact that regional taxes represent less than 3% of total collection, they do impact on certain activities.
And that happens in an administration that should seduce the companies that moved their registered offices in autumn 2017, after 1-O, to return to Catalonia.
“In the case of Catalonia, there are substantial differences with other communities in Heritage and Successions.
And there are other differences in personal income tax.
The problem is that a single tax can cause transfers of taxpayers from one community to another and then that community loses what they pay in other tax figures ", explains about the effects of an excessive tax burden José Félix Sanz, director of Tax Studies at Funcas .
The fear of excessive noise for voters more marked by the left-right axis than the sovereignist may be behind the fact that Junts has forgotten a tweet made by his
number three,
Joan Canadell, in which he was betting on eliminating inheritance taxes and Heritage.
In the electoral program of his party there is no mention.
He limits himself to talking about looking for "a fair tax system", something that could appear on the program of any other party, the PP or the CUP.
The lack of specificity led on Tuesday the leader of En Comú Podem, Jéssica Albiach, to ask Laura Borràs, Junts candidate, where she intended to get the extra 5,000 million euros with which she proposed to provide health.
The community accounts falter and survive on transfers and credits from the State Administration.
For its part, ERC is barely committed to touching income and wealth taxes to encourage the recruitment of foreign talent.
Paradoxically, the party led by Oriol Junqueras, which has refused to sit at the debate table on the review of the financing system, has sought help from the central government to harmonize certain taxes (such as the inheritance tax) to reduce the differences with the Community of Madrid, which they have accused, as from other communities, of
tax
dumping
and benefiting from an advantageous situation as state capital.
The PSC does promise in its program to reverse the reductions made by CiU in the Inheritance tax and recover the tax burden it had in 2010. The last increase agreed last year, forced by the commons to carry out the Budgets, was left half path.
The tax challenge is mixed with economic decline
The debate on taxation in Catalonia is intertwined with the gradual loss of economic leadership of the community, which had a special impact in 2018, when for the first time the Community of Madrid surpassed it by gross domestic product.
In a campaign act, the MEP Luis Garicano, based on this sorpasso to define the governments that have managed the Catalan administration in recent years: “Catalonia had a higher proportion of GDP than Madrid and now it is behind, also in investments foreign.
It is behind in everything, simply because it is governed by those who have no interest in governing it well. ”In the same act, the president of the formation, Inés Arrimadas, advocated bringing to Catalonia the same fiscal policy of suppressing the inheritance tax that the PP carries out the practice in Madrid.
"It is not a promise that everyone can make," he said.
In any case, the leader of PDeCAT, Àngels Chacón, reiterated, as she did on TV3 on Tuesday, her desire to end this tax in Catalonia, despite the fact that there is some academic consensus that it is a redistributive tribute.
"It penalizes the savings of a lifetime so that the great fortunes because the great fortunes have corporate formulas to avoid it", defended Àngels Chacón.
Faced with the silence, Ciudadanos has not hesitated to defend the model practiced by the PP in Madrid, while the PDeCAT bet on the TV3 debate on Tuesday for “suppressing” Successions.
There was no response on the regional television set.
This Wednesday, the popular Alejandro Fernández said that the tax burden partly explains the departure of companies outside of Catalonia and proposed to reduce the autonomic section of personal income tax by three points.
According to the director of the Barcelona Institute of Economics, José María Durán Cabré, the term “fiscal hell” is situated in a speech “on the part”, in the same way that some people speak of Madrid as a “tax haven” because of the bonuses you make.
The economist admits that the Generalitat has raised rates on many taxes and has created other taxes of its own - "sometimes for extra-fiscal purposes, as is the case of the tribute for sugary drinks," he says - but points out that it has been followed in this by other communities.
"The big difference is with Madrid," he sums up.
“Catalonia has made proposals that point towards greater fiscal progressiveness.
That Madrid does
tax
dumping
, with low taxes or bonuses, makes it difficult to establish a debate and agreements towards a fair tax reform for all.
Catalonia could set a certain path together with other communities ”, says Xavier Casanovas, less critical, of the Platform for a Fair Taxation, in which different entities in the social field participate.