"The Catalan government isn't selling smoke": Isla guarantees full management of personal income tax in 2028 with the Catalan Treasury.

BarcelonaThe president of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Salvador Illa, chose Shanghai to review his first year in office, just a week before the anniversary of his inauguration. Taking advantage of the last day of his official trip to China, he boasted about some of the executive's flagship measures of recent months, before leaving for vacation: the plan to build 50,000 public housing units by 2030, by regenerate the poorest neighborhoods of Catalonia with 200 million annually or to invest 18.5 billion in five years so that Catalonia surpasses Madrid as an economic engine, opening up to new markets and, in particular, in Asia"Ending the political year from China sends a message; it's not a coincidence or a fluke," the president asserted at a press conference. Now, the latest news on the new Catalan Treasury's calendarwhich will not manage personal income tax until 2028, two years later than agreed with ERC for the investiture—and the singular financing –still not specified– have fully impacted the socialist leader's balance sheet.

Under pressure from the Catalan Left (ESC), which embraces the new timeline but demands "more ambition" from the Socialist Workers' Party (PSC) before the Ministry of Finance, Salvador Illa has defended his roadmap for transforming the Catalan Tax Agency. "The government isn't selling smoke. For the first time, it is putting a realistic roadmap on the table," he argued. According to the new ATC's master plan, commissioned by Indra and announced yesterday, in 2026 the agency will incorporate more than 400 additional staff to assist Catalan taxpayers. The following year, in 2027, it should be able to handle all assistance, with another 700 temporary employees. However, it is not expected to "collaborate in the application of taxes and the review of acts" with the Personal Income Tax (IRPF), and, in fact, the information provided this Thursday by the Ministry of Economy did not clarify whether this role would be complete or not. This Friday, the president did guarantee that in 2028, the management of the Personal Income Tax (IRPF) will be "complete," according to the master plan, which has not been made public in its entirety.

However, as the Catalan government has done in recent months, Illa reiterated that the new Catalan Treasury will not be created "in a month, nor in a day." The Indra report also warns that, for the changes to be effective, legislative reforms will first be necessary in Congress, over which the Socialists and Republicans continue to negotiate while also waiting to convince the other partners of the plurinational majority. In statements to SER Catalunya, ERC spokesperson Isaac Albert criticized the PSC for lacking "ambition" in this matter and once again called on the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, to "get her act together." Far from adding to the criticism of the Treasury, Salvador Illa (spontaneously) expressed that he was "very pleased, in particular, with the attitude" of the Spanish vice president in this negotiation.

Together questions the Government

From the opposition, Junts has taken advantage of the postponement of the Personal Income Tax (IRPF) tax calendar to attack the executive. Its vice president and member of Parliament, Antoni Castellà, has asked Isla to use the holidays to consider whether a government "incapable of fulfilling any of its commitments" is "viable," after having failed in this first year. nor has the new financing model materialized, After the bilateral negotiations, there has not been a solution proposed to end the fiscal deficit of 22 billion euros. However, Isla's plans are to remain at the head of a government where, moreover, he has no intention of making changes (not even in view of the municipal elections, with the idea of releasing some ministers). president. Starting in September, the government will begin contacts to approve new budgets, as well as Pedro Sánchez's executive, in an attempt to avoid the political storm unleashed by the Cerdán case.

After a year at the head of the Generalitat, Illa has admitted that he would have liked to accelerate commitments such as the improvement of the Cercanías (Commuter Rail), the reform of the administration and the construction of public housing, a portfolio that he considers central to the legislature (and where, moreover, he has found harmony with the two research partners). ERC and Comuns, with agreements such as the regulation of seasonal rentals and the sanctioning regime of the housing law). As he himself has acknowledged, he remains saddened by not being able to gain more support for the National Pact for Language, where they are not even TogetherNeither the PP nor the CUP. Nor Vox nor the Catalan Alliance. However, Isla has made it convenient to reproach the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, for putting spokes in the wheels of the official status of Catalan in Europe, while "spoke Galician"When I was president of the Xunta.

As a wish for the next course, the president has once again asked that the courts apply the amnesty so that the political year can start again with former president Carles Puigdemont, also a deputy, and the rest of the exiles already in Catalonia. Azcón, for the paintings of Sijena, pending transfer from the MNAC by court order: "I'm still waiting for recognition from the Aragonese authorities thanking the Catalan institutions for preserving the paintings [...] It's polite to express gratitude and recognition."

The PSC Government's numbers

Coinciding with the press conference to review the first year of its mandate, the Catalan government has released some figures for the last twelve months: 47 executive council meetings, 16 visits by the president to other autonomous communities, and 9 visits abroad, covering more than 7,252.5 kilometers in 97 municipalities across Catalonia.

During this time, the government emphasizes, Catalonia grew by 2.8% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2025, more than the European average; rents in regulated areas fell by 1.32% year-on-year in the first quarter, and there are 952 more social rental homes than the previous year. Crimes have fallen by 5.24% in the first half of the year (16,000 more crimes), and in June 2025, the lowest unemployment rate since 2008 has been recorded. "Catalonia is on the right track and is moving forward. Spain is also on the right track and is moving forward, and those are two realities. A virtuous circle," the president emphasized.