1,188 euros in tax-free allowances: what a Barcelona MP earns just for traveling (whether he travels or not).
The Speaker of the Parliament, Josep Rull, waives the compensation because he has an official car, while Puigdemont and Puig, who are exiled, also do not receive it.
BarcelonaIn 2015, members of Parliament committed to progressively reforming the structure of their salaries to eliminate the tax-exempt portion of their salaries, travel allowances, or at least to formalize them so that only those who actually travel end up receiving them. However, ten years later, no reform has been completed, and they continue to receive these allowances without paying taxes to the Treasury regardless of what they do—that is, whether they attend Parliament or not, or whether they travel around the country to carry out their work as members. For now, they have limited themselves to making contributions from these allowances to the fixed portion of their salaries—up to five between 2017 and 2023—so that they become taxable, but the bulk of the allowance remains in effect.
As indicated by data provided by the parliamentary administration through a transparency request, any MP who declares their residence in Barcelona receives 1,188 euros per month for travel expenses, which are not taxed and are added to their salary. The system does not differentiate between MPs who live in Barcelona city and those who live in the metropolitan area (both MPs receive the same amount in travel expenses), while the amount increases depending on the distance between Parliament and the place of residence. According to the chamber's data, some MPs earn 1,545 euros more per month if they live less than 80 km from Barcelona, and those who live between 80 and 191 km away, 1,659 euros per month without paying taxes. If all the components of a member's salary are added together, the salaries of the 135 elected members of Parliament range from approximately €4,500 gross per month to around €8,500, depending on their duties. In the case of the vice-presidents and the president of the chamber, the salary is between €9,000 and €10,000 per month.
The president of the Parliament, Josep Rull (Juntos), in a interview in the ARA Just as the mandate began, he pledged to reform this issue. "We are working on it. It will be one of the major decisions we will make, a change in the remuneration structure of members of parliament. A new approach that allows us to adapt to the demands of the public; making it much clearer, more tangible from the perspective of travel, adjusting the actual kilometers traveled, and also taking into account the actual kilometers traveled, and also looking here at Barcelona," he stated. Sources from the House of Representatives' Speakers' Office explain that, with only eight months left in the legislature, it is still on the agenda, but that work has not yet begun; they have begun, they say, with a reform of the legislative procedure to expedite it, with an accessibility plan for Parliament, and with meetings to combat hate speech. In any case, it does not depend on the Speaker of the House, but rather requires an agreement from all groups at the expanded table.
What Rull has done is waive travel allowances, according to the Parliament itself, because he is using an official car, just as Laura Borràs (Juntos) did, renouncing it for the first time since becoming Speaker of the House. At the same time, the then Vice President of the House, Alba Vergés (ERC), waived part of her travel allowances (although she was supposed to earn more because she lived in Igualada, she now earned them as if they were from Barcelona). The same has been done by the current Vice President of Parliament, Raquel Sans (in) Speaker, who is using an official car: although she was entitled to compensation for the Tarragona area (€1,659.17), she earns the same as the Barcelona MPs, €1,188. In Anna Erra's case, when she was president she also gave up part of it: instead of receiving a salary as if she lived in Vic, she received the amount corresponding to Barcelona, clarify presidential sources.
Exiles do not receive allowances
According to Parliament's transparency response, exiled MPs also do not receive travel allowances. In fact, party sources clarify that former President Carles Puigdemont began receiving travel allowances from Parliament this February as a private member without a travel allowance (€2,921.82). Previously, he received nothing from the chamber because he exhausted the allowance that MEPs receive upon leaving the European Parliament (a period of six months). As for Lluís Puig, he receives the private member's allowance (€2,921.82) and a spokesperson's allowance, earning him €5,203 per month. Meanwhile, all PSC MPs who are councillors and the President, Salvador Illa, receive nothing from Parliament, neither salary nor travel allowances, because they are paid by the Government and travel in an official car.
Members of the CUP and the Comuns have not waived any compensation, according to data provided by the Parliament, although their salaries are limited and the remainder is allocated to the party. In the case of the Comuns, it is set at 3.5 times the minimum wage, so with the latest increases it is 4,144 euros gross per month. For the CUP, it is 2,300 gross. The far-right parties Vox and Aliança Catalana, which are often critical of the system, have not waived anything. According to sources in the Parliament, Silvia Orriols earns a total of 8,362 euros gross per month, of which 1,659 are non-taxable allowances. Ignacio Garriga, of Vox, at the center of the storm for having paid the children's AMPA and hairdressing fees from the Vox group's account, earns 7,748 euros.
The reform that never comes
In the last legislative session, work was moved forward on a top-to-bottom reform of the salary structure for MPs. Sources familiar with this plan admit that the compensation portion is a kind of hidden salary, since in the 2000s, these sources say, their salaries were raised but camouflaged with allowances, and therefore, without doing so openly. From this point on, the difficulty in reaching an agreement on a reform has to do with two issues. First, if everything they receive in allowances is incorporated into their regular salaries, MPs would lose purchasing power due to the effects of personal income tax. And second, in order not to lose, they would have to raise their salaries—with the potential controversy that this would entail—and, furthermore, it would be Parliament that would bear the burden. de facto The cost of becoming taxed. To resolve this, during the previous term, they worked on a new system: that everything deputies earn is taxed, and that they pay personal income tax, with a representation supplement of between 300 and 400 euros. Travel expenses, tax-free, are paid only to those traveling. That is, at the beginning of each term, deputies must report where they live, and the cost of traveling to and from plenary sessions and committee meetings is calculated at 0.33 euros per kilometer. Per diem is only paid in these cases, not across the entire parliamentary spectrum. But this reform is currently on the back burner.
