Clash with reality with one's own Treasury
The master plan for the Catalan government's own treasury, commissioned by Indra and released this Thursday, represents a clash with reality for both the PSC and ERC. Indeed, it can now be stated that the content of the agreement signed between the two parties to inaugurate Salvador Illa was unworkable in terms of deadlines, and that it was therefore impossible for the Catalan Tax Agency (ATC) to collect personal income tax for this year and next year in one year. The document makes it clear that next year, as well as in 2027, the ATC will only be able to offer "assistance" to citizens in filing their tax returns, but not the actual collection. And that it will not be until 2028 that "the tax application of certain functions within the scope of personal income tax" will begin. That is, the document doesn't even set a timeframe for when the ATC will be able to assume 100% of the management and collection of personal income tax, and simply establishes the steps to be taken in what it calls the "first phase of deployment," which will last three years.
The roadmap outlined by Indra, which includes the hiring of hundreds of people, the development of its own technological platform, and the opening of new ATC offices, is more realistic, although not without significant difficulties. For example, the entire process is pending legislative amendments that must be approved in Congress, such as the Lofca (Spanish Civil Service Act), for which at this time not only is there no agreement between the ERC and the PSOE, but parliamentary support is not even secured. It is, therefore, a process of enormous technical complexity that must be carried out with a fragile majority in Congress and fierce opposition from civil servants. This is the stark reality.
The path ahead, therefore, will be much longer and more difficult than what was stated when the agreement was presented, which was signed a year ago in a solemn ceremony at the Library of Catalonia, let's remember, by the former secretary general of the ERC (Republican Workers' Party), Marta Rovira, and the deputy first secretary of the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), Lluïsa Moret. As the saying goes, paper can handle anything, and even when there is political will, not everything is feasible: there is a technical reality that cannot be ignored. In this case, it was illusory to think that what the Spanish Treasury, through the AEAT (Spanish Tax Agency), has built over half a century could be replicated in a year or so. To give you an idea, training a tax expert takes years, just as passing the exams to become a tax inspector takes an average of three to five years.
The goal of building a Catalan Treasury is legitimate and desirable, but it will take many more years than previously stated, and it will require a great deal of effort and resources. While this is a challenge, what we need to do is get down to work and dedicate all the necessary resources if we truly want to boost our own Treasury.
