Together and PP declare war on the "fiscal hell" of Salvador Illa and Pedro Sánchez

Barcelona"Fiscal hell" is a concept that has gained traction on the right of the parliamentary benches. It was popularized by the president of Foment del Treball, Josep Sánchez Llibre, and has now been adopted as their own by parties from the PP to Junts, including the far-right Vox and Aliança Catalana. It doesn't take much imagination to conclude that this is a frontal criticism of the current tax model in both Catalonia and the State. Now it's the turn of Carles Puigdemont's party, which in this week's plenary session in Parliament has set its sights on attacking the taxation maintained by the Generalitat with a twofold initiative: deflating the personal income tax (IRPF) (removing inflation from government revenue) and subsidizing inheritance and gift tax. Junts knows it will lose the vote (it will probably only have the PP, Vox, and Aliança on its side), but it intends for it to be the start of a cultural battle against the left.

The national spokesperson, Josep Rius, was already talking on Monday about this "fiscal hell," which Junts also did not reverse during its years in government. The Junts members are also taking advantage of the fact that in Andalusia the president of the Junta, Juanma Moreno, has announced a series of tax cuts to contrast the models, but also to denounce that the Andalusians are doing so while Catalonia maintains an annual fiscal deficit of

21 billion euros, which leaves it with little room for maneuver.

Behind the slogan fewer taxes and more justice

lies a cultural war, with inheritance tax being one of the main battlegrounds, called "the death tax" by some on the right. A week ago, the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, precisely used this definition regarding inheritance and employed "fiscal hell" to contrast his model with that of Pedro Sánchez. In line with what Mariano Rajoy promised in his day —although he would later end up raising taxes to face the economic crisis—, Feijóo says he will lower the IRPF, housing taxes, renounce inheritance tax, and approve a series of tax cuts if he governs.

The Junts members have also proposed in Congress the abolition of the wealth tax, which, along with the inheritance tax and the regional bands of the IRPF, are those that allow the most normative capacity to the autonomies. Where the PP governs, in fact, they have them practically abolished, despite the frontal opposition of the left, which claim that they are progressive taxes that tax wealth and allow for a fairer redistribution of resources. By renouncing this collection, argue the Catalan and Spanish executives, public services would have to be cut.

Within Junts, the party's left-wing sector has also shown reluctance to abolish taxes, although it has blessed the proposal that will be put to a vote this Wednesday. In the tax field, however, it is the vice-president of the party and a key person in the liberal sector, Antoni Castellà, who pilots the issues in the Catalan chamber. He is one of those responsible for the party having gradually taken on an increasingly clear ideological profile, with a convergent demeanor, with a convergent demeanor.

The tax cut

What Junts proposes with the deflation of IRPF is the adjustment of brackets and deductions to adapt the tax collection to inflation and that Catalans do not pay more taxes in relative terms. This means moving all brackets, which the Government has ruled out. The PP has also joined the fiscal war this week, intensifying its campaign for the income tax return, You pay more and receive less, criticizing the 15 own taxes that Catalonia has and denouncing that Catalans are the ones who pay the most in the brackets up to 30,000 euros of annual income.

Vox has expressed that it supports the fiscal reduction proposed by Junts, although it considers it "insufficient", according to spokesperson Joan Garriga. The Spanish far-right wants there to be only two regional IRPF brackets, one of 15% for incomes up to 70,000 euros and another of 25% for higher incomes – currently there are eight progressive brackets.

On inheritance tax, Junts supporters maintain that taxes related to assets that include inheritances "have already been paid during life". Now they propose to subsidize it by 99% — that is, practically eliminate it, as in PP communities — following the example of Artur Mas's first government, which in 2010 agreed with the PP a strong reduction of the tax, although two years later it would raise it again with ERC. During the pandemic, moreover, Quim Torra's government (Junts in coalition with ERC) also made upward changes in inheritances and increased the IRPF in the high brackets — and reduced it in the low ones — after a budget agreement with Comuns. In inheritances and donations, Catalonia collected 1,162 million euros last year and in wealth they collected 835 million.