Andalusia Government Opposes PSOE's Tax Hike

The Government of Andalusia opposes a 'massive tax hike' which, it claims, the PSOE intends to use to increase revenue by 1.42 billion euros. The current First Vice President of the Government has already threatened the autonomous communities governed by the PP with blocking the tax cuts they have applied to taxes ceded by the State, such as the one that levies inheritance tax. A recent report from the Bank of Spain called for reforming this tax to increase its collection, which is currently low, by harmonizing the regulations among the different autonomous communities. The PSOE also proposes to increase the collection of the Wealth Tax by 107 million euros. The PSOE's proposals also affect the Wealth Tax, for which it advocates reform to generate an additional 107 million euros, which would mean quadrupling the 34 million that enter the public coffers each year through this tax, which levies all the assets and economic rights of individuals, deducting debts. The regional accounts for the coming year, drawn up by the Ministry of Economy, Finance, European Funds and Social Dialogue, and sent to the Andalusian Parliament for debate and approval this December, record annual revenues of 263 million euros. The PSOE plans, through its amendment, to quintuple the current collection to reach 1,326 million euros from this tax, which part of the population perceives as unfair, as reported by the aforementioned Ministry. The Government reproaches Montero for wanting to 'crush the Andalusians with taxes' by reversing the cuts approved by the PP. In its opinion, the PP Executive has expressed its total disagreement with the proposal of the party led by María Jesús Montero, Minister of Finance, to increase by 1,063 million euros the revenues that reach the coffers of the Junta de Andalucía through the Inheritance and Donation Tax. The most striking thing is that the proposed rise is equivalent to multiplying by four the 299 million euros collected in 2018, under the last Andalusian socialist government, in which Montero held the position of Minister of Finance until June of that same year, when she moved to the Council of Ministers with Pedro Sánchez after ousting Mariano Rajoy through a motion of no confidence. An anticipated electoral program. The regional government considers the PSOE's amendments to be an advance of the electoral program with which the candidate María Jesús Montero will face Moreno at the polls in the spring elections. The PSOE wants to multiply by five the collection of the Inheritance and Donation Tax by eliminating some of the exemptions and reductions approved since April 2019 by the Andalusian government of Juanma Moreno (PP) on one of the most criticized taxes by the population. The last socialist government collected 80 million euros through this levy. The amendments of Por Andalucía and Adelante Andalucía. The Junta has also rejected the 23 revenue amendments presented by the Por Andalucía parliamentary group, which proposed an increase of up to 1,547 million euros in the concept of payments on account of the regional income tax (IRPF) tariff, a competence corresponding to the State. In 2022, Montero established another state tax on large fortunes to neutralize the virtual suppression of the tax managed by the Junta, which has had to be recovered again to prevent the State from keeping these revenues. In the same way, it proposed an increase of 45 million from the settlement of VAT accrued, which is also not managed by the Junta. The Adelante Andalucía group, for its part, contemplated collecting 860 million more by eliminating the bonuses on the Inheritance and Donation Taxes and on Wealth Tax, as well as the withdrawal of the bonus on the transfer tax on the sale of a second-hand home, which varies depending on the community in which the property is located. Source ABC. Among the battery of amendments it has presented to the draft budget of the autonomous community for 2026, the Socialist Parliamentary Group includes two that propose to repeal some of the decrees promoted by the PP Executive in April 2019, October 2021, and September 2022, which have meant the virtual suppression of this state figure ceded to the autonomous communities. The Council of Ministers has rejected this Tuesday up to 158 amendments from the Andalusian PSOE because they 'alter the financial envelope' approved by the Andalusian Parliament, the total figure of the Junta's budget for the coming year, which amounts to 51,597.9 million euros, as specified by the Minister of Finance, Carolina España. She has been in favor of the new autonomous financing model that will be presented at the beginning of 2026 including 'disincentives' for governments that use their margin of competence to reduce the tax burden on their inhabitants. 'It is sheer madness,' stressed the government spokeswoman, Carolina España, who reproached the Secretary General of the PSOE for wanting to 'crush the Andalusians with taxes' again. Currently, direct descendants (children, grandchildren, and spouses) in Andalusia pay a symbolic 1% rate on the tax that levies inheritances or cash transfers made in life, for example, from parents to children, to help them with the entry of the mortgage to buy a home.