Self-employed workers: entrepreneurship as an act of faith

Three years after the reform that was supposed to bring order to the self-employed regime, the Spanish government is once again stumbling over the same problem: the discomfort of a group that feels despisedThe proposal to increase quotas over the next three years was short-lived.

Minister Escrivá's 2022 reform introduced a profound change: self-employed workers' contributions began to be calculated based on actual income, rather than a freely chosen rate. The goal was to strengthen the relationship between what is paid and what is received, and to avoid retirements with very low pensions after always having contributed the minimum. The goal was also to improve coverage in unforeseen situations, such as illness or crises like COVID, when many discovered their limited protection.

Now the debate has reopened. The initial proposal called for an increase in fees between 2026 and 2028, but the rejection was almost unanimous, among unions and self-employed organizations, from the PP to the investiture partners, including Sumar itself. Under pressure, Saiz has rectified and proposes freezing the lower sections and postpone the rest until further negotiations.

To understand the discontent, it's necessary to look beyond the numbers. Despite economic growth, many families and small businesses are failing to notice its benefits. Rising living costs, income instability, and tax pressure have left little room for improvement for workers already living on the edge. Furthermore, the self-employed suffer from a sense of structural vulnerability: they feel outside the larger security networks of salaried workers, especially in countries like Spain, France, and Italy, where the public sector and large companies concentrate union protection.

The government's initial proposal has been viewed as a double injustice: it anticipated increases above inflation, but it also broke the 2022 agreement that most people would not see any increases in the short term. But what is causing the greatest discontent is not so much the amount of the increase as the uncertainty. The instability inherent to self-employed workers is compounded by changing and unpredictable regulations that make long-term planning impossible.

Despite the positive macroeconomic data, entrepreneurship remains a pending issue. For more innovation and sustainable projects, a more stable, less bureaucratic environment with clear rules would be needed. However, the indicators show the opposite: Spain ranks below the OECD average in economic freedom and regulatory predictability. However, we must also avoid the caricature that any increase in contributions is "looting." The fiscal debate is not just about taxes, but about how to make the desire to be entrepreneurial compatible with job security and dignity.