Fedea takes the lead in the debate on regional financing. He think tank directed by Angel of the Fountain has been very critical of the agreement signed between PSC and ERC to create a kind of fiscal agreement for Catalonia similar to the one that governs the Basque Country. For this reason, it has opened a “reflection process” to put on the table an alternative proposal to reform the financing system.
Fedea will carry out this endeavor hand in hand with the Olof Palme International Foundation (FIOP), “an entity close to the PSC”as the study center qualifies it. This foundation is led by a historical leader of Catalan socialism, Anna Balletbò.
In a press conference, Fedea reported yesterday that this debate will materialize in a discussion day, which will be held next January, and a collection of working documents that will be published in the weeks before and after the day.
“The objective is to promote a frank, orderly and constructive debate between public finance specialists who support and detract from the PSC and ERC proposal, with the hope of identifying possible elements of consensus that make possible an agreed reform of the regional financing system. that improves its design and operation,” explained the think tank.
Despite the desire to approach the debate in an integrative manner, De la Fuente drew attention to some issues. Thus, andThe economist refuted the thesis of Catalonia’s underfinancing from which the PSC-ERC agreement is based to justify the community’s departure from the common regime. “Catalonia has always been around the average financing per inhabitant adjusted to the same fiscal effort,” he explained.
In fact, the Catalan community is slightly above the average, specifically 0.9%. On the other hand, Murcia, Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha and the Valencian Community are not behind the average.
Furthermore, De la Fuente argued that no change to the system should compromise either the principle of interterritorial solidarity or the autonomy of the central Administration. However, the specialist did defend the controversial principle of ordinality as long as it is measured per capita and in an adjusted manner.
The four “ingredients” of Fedea
Faced with the PSC-ERC model, which Fedea characterizes as the “beginning of a confederal drift”, The entity lists four axes – “ingredients”, in its words – to reach a consensus on a financing reform that pleases all territories: a single tax administration structured through a consortium of 16 instead of 15 consortiums of two; respect for ordinality per adjusted inhabitant; a very high but not total leveling, and the conversion of the status quo clauses into transitional compensations that allow the necessary changes to be made in the territorial distribution of public resources in a reasonable time.
The ’embryo’ of the proposal
For its part, Balletbò stressed that the current initiative links with a previous reflection exercise coordinated between both entities. This is the edition of the Meetings of S’Agaró held between 2015 and 2016 in various Spanish cities.
That occasion brought together the points of view of tax experts who already envisioned the need to promote an update of regional financing based on income autonomy and fiscal co-responsibility of the territories.
He also participated in the informative meeting Miguel Ángel García Díaz (URJC and FEDEA), which presented the first work of the new series of documents, which includes in detail the important role played by the Central Administrationl to guarantee adequacy and equity throughout the state, so that all citizens can have a similar level of public services when they make a similar fiscal effort.
The loss of a significant part of their income as a consequence of the extension of the economic concert regime to Catalonia would reduce their capacity to fulfill these tasks, generating serious harm, especially to residents of the territories with lower income.
#Fedea #advocates #respecting #principle #ordinality #reform #regional #financing
