In this way, the Generalitat would go from collecting 9% of taxes to all taxes, which it estimates represents a potential income of 52 billion euros per year, double that of the current financing model.
The Generalitat government proposed on Tuesday that Catalonia collect all taxes, instead of the current 9%, and that in return it transfers an amount to be determined for the services provided by the state in the community, plus another item to “contribute to equality between areas”.
The Minister of Economy and Finance, Natalia Mas, explained that the unique financing proposal for Catalonia involves the Generalitat collecting 100% of taxes paid in the autonomous community, with a mechanism of interterritorial solidarity. The Basque Economic Agreement and the Navarrese Agreement are the mirrors in which Catalonia wants to demand ‘some financing’.
In this way the government would collect the 9% of taxes for the whole, which is estimated to represent a potential annual turnover of 52 billion euros, double that of the current financing model.
The government has explained that this is based on a model of ‘full’ fiscal sovereigntymeaning that the Generalitat administers and collects all taxes, including VAT, personal income tax, corporate tax and special taxes.
“It’s a paradigm shift, we’ve come so far”added the minister, who literally said it is a 180-degree turn from leaving decades of injustice behind.
He explained that this new model would allow the Generalitat to “be directly responsible” for public expenditure and revenues to Catalan society, and that it is a model similar to that of federal countries.
Moreover, they have assured that this proposal is as well “Compatible with the Staff Regulations, the Constitution and Community law” and which includes a legal analysis prepared by the Institut d’Estudis d’Autogovern. This analysis “concludes that the constitutional framework allows this” and identifies the regulatory changes that would be necessary to implement this.
For its part, the Spanish government maintains its desire to reach an agreement on regional financing “with all communities” and its desire to continue “with a dialogue that includes not only Catalonia, but also the rest” of the territories.
This is how the spokesperson of the Spanish government, Pilar Alegría, and the Minister of Economy, Trade and Affairs, Carlos Body, expressed themselves on Tuesday when they were asked about the proposal of the Generalitat government at the press conference after the Council of Ministers . Neither the spokesperson nor the head of Economy answered the question directly.
The Secretary General of JxCatJordi Turull has called the proposal presented by the government an “electoral pamphlet”, but has warned the PSOE that Junts will not participate “in strengthening ‘coffee for all’” regarding regional financing.
“If the PSOE believes that JxCat will work together on coffee for all to strengthen it, they should forget our voices, because this was not the spirit of the Brussels agreement,” Turull said in statements to the press in Mollerussa (Lleida ). those who have said that it is “incompatible” to discuss the national recognition of Catalonia “with the generation of a dynamic of coffee for all.”
Source: EITB
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
