The Generalitat and the State agree to strengthen the Tax Agency to move towards a Catalan Treasury

BarcelonaThe Generalitat and the Spanish government put an end this Friday to the first round of meetings of the bilateral commissions to formalize transfers –many of them agreed with ERC– since Salvador Illa was invested as president. This Friday is the turn of the Joint Commission on Economic and Fiscal Affairs: at 12.30 pm, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Alícia Romero, will meet with the Secretary of State for Finance, Jesús Gascón, in the Tàpies Room of the Palau de la Generalitat. On the table is the economic landing of the agreements of the Bilateral Commission on Monday, such as, for example the expansion of the Mossos staff to 25,000 agents by 2030, but also agreements on tax management to move towards a Catalan Treasury that must see the light with singular financing, still to be agreed.

However, no giant step is expected in the specification of the new financing model agreed with ERC so that Catalonia can collect and manage all taxes. Government sources stress that first the report from the group of experts should arrive, which must outline the main lines of the new system and, among other things, quantify how much the Generalitat should contribute on account of the services that the State provides to Catalonia. "To propose a model to negotiate, we need them to finish their work and put on the table a proposal that we can defend," said the Government spokesperson and minister, Sílvia Paneque, at a press conference on Tuesday.

There will, however, be agreements with the Spanish government to strengthen the collaboration of the State Agency for Tax Administration (AEAT) with the Tax Agency of Catalonia (ATC). Specifically, for the ATC to increase its participation in the next income tax campaign, both in terms of the number of staff and service points. It is a measure in line with of the creation of new positions in the ATC that Councillor Romero made a few weeks ago, and intends to prepare the structure of the agency for when it has to take charge of collecting all personal income tax. According to the schedule agreed with ERC, it should do so next year.

The Spanish government and executive also have on the table the partial forgiveness of the FLA debt, after the announcement of the agreement with ERC this Monday for Catalonia to receive a settlement of 17,000 million euros – within the framework of an agreement to forgive 83,252 million euros to all the autonomous communities made official, with the PP's plan, in the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy—. Romero and Gascón will seal the State's commitment to process the legal instruments to make their reduction effective. Once these legal modifications are approved in Congress, it will be necessary to hold a new Joint Committee on Economic and Fiscal Affairs to specify how it is done.

After the meeting on Friday, Romero and Gascón will appear before the media to give details of the agreements.