The Vox accounts corresponding to 2023, published in its official pagehave once again recorded the bonuses that the far-right party pays to several members of its leadership, headed by its president, Santiago Abascal. According to the formation itself, that year there were a dozen leaders who shared a total of 646,522.19 euros. Although Vox does not specify how much each one earns, if that amount is divided among the 12, each one received close to 54,000 euros annually. In addition to Abascal, eight of them occupy a seat either in the European Parliament, as in the case of Jorge Buxadé, or in the Congress of Deputies or in an autonomous Chamber. All institutions require them to complete an asset declaration in which they must reveal their income and specify its origin. But almost none do.
Abascal himself, in his first declaration of assets presented in Congress in August 2023, claimed to earn 37,357.00 euros from the party “as an employee” for his position as president of Vox. But shortly after, in an expansion of his statement, the leader of the extreme right added another 18,000 euros per year to that amount as president of the parliamentary group, money that comes from the subsidy that Vox receives from Congress. Adding both figures gives just over 55,000 euros per year, an amount that coincides with the bonuses received by the aforementioned members of the Vox leadership in 2023. In addition, as a deputy for Madrid, Abascal earns 3,236.32 euros per month in fourteen payments, more another 992.31 euros, also monthly, to cover the expenses incurred by the activity of the Lower House, which are tax-free. But he does not add more accessories, as many other members of his own group do.
In addition to Abascal, in the Vox leadership that year Ignacio Garriga, Javier Ortega Smith, María Ruíz Solas, Jorge Buxadé, Enrique Cabanas, Pablo Sáez Alonso, Manuel Mariscal, Rosa Cuervas, Montserrat Lluís, Javier Cortés and Ignacio Hoces were paid from the party .
Hoces was until recently deputy secretary of Institutional Affairs of Vox and now holds the deputy secretary of Political Action. However, the deputy for Badajoz in his Congressional statement limits himself to explaining that in 2023 he received 89,056 gross euros in “monetary remuneration”, without specifying the origin of that income. It is the only information he provides, since his declaration sheet is practically blank: he only adds that he paid 24,817 euros in personal income tax in the last financial year and that on the date he presented it (August 2023, like the other deputies ) had 262,425 euros in his checking account. No housing, no vehicles, no credits, no pension plan, no shares. The deputy for Badajoz does not provide any other information other than those “monetary remunerations”, his balance in the bank and what he paid to the Treasury.
Like all other deputies, Hoces receives 3,236.32 per month euros plus another 2,078.92 euros for the expenses of his activity in the Chamber as he is a parliamentarian from a constituency other than Madrid. To these he adds the complements as committee spokesperson (2,006 euros as representation expenses and 1,067.24 euros as freely available, which are not subject to withholdings). Although it has two spokespersons and one deputy spokesperson, it cannot accumulate all of these complements, so it only charges one.
His colleague Manuel Mariscal, deputy for Toledo, confesses that he has received a “gross annual salary as national vice-secretary of Communication” – a position he currently retains – of 55,000 euros per year, that is, Vox pays him 18,000 euros more than himself. Abascal of the party coffers.
Mariscal is much more explicit than Hoces and declares that he has 50% of a home (it is not known where) acquired in March 2023, exactly on the date on which he requested a mortgage loan for 340,000 euros, of which at that time he owed 338,296. In addition, he owns a Piaggio Fly motorcycle and a BMW series 1; He paid 37,421 euros to the Treasury and then had 15,500 euros in his checking account.
The head of Vox Communications receives, like all deputies, a monthly Congress payroll of 3,236.32 euros and another 2,078.92 euros for the expenses of his parliamentary activity, to which he also adds a monthly supplement as Commission spokesperson of more than 3,000 euros (2,006 euros as representation expenses and 1,067.24 euros as freely available), which are not subject to withholdings.
Ortega Smith: 156,443 euros for “economic activities and income”
Javier Ortega Smith, who has become a simple member of the National Executive Committee when he was previously first vice president of Vox, also received a salary from the training in 2023, as in previous years. Ortega Smith is a deputy for Madrid and a councilor for the capital’s City Council, where he is the spokesperson for the group, but the law prevents him from collecting two public salaries. As he himself has revealed, he has preferred to only receive his salary from Congress, also higher than Abascal’s, since at 3,236.32 euros per month in fourteen payments, plus another 992.31 euros, also monthly, to cover expenses that the activity of the Lower House gives rise to, adds the complements as Commission spokesperson.
In his statement to Congress, Ortega Smith limits himself to revealing that he earns 156,443 euros from “economic activities carried out and income obtained” and that he has “shares in community property” in the amount of 7,591 euros. He says that he paid 9,642 euros in personal income tax and that he owns several homes: one in the Madrid town of Soto del Real (50% for sale); two in Castropol (one at 25% by inheritance, and the other at 100% by sale); a plot also in the same Asturian town (16.66% by sale); another home in Madrid (100%, the result of a donation) and another in Toledo (12.50% due to inheritance). He has five checking accounts with a total of 91,370 euros, a Mitsubishi Outlander purchased in 2021 and a Opel Rekord Olympia from 1965 that Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida will not let it use as of January 1, 2025, unless it is considered a ‘historic vehicle’.
The list of the well-paid also includes the MEP and head of the Vox delegation in Brussels, Jorge Buxadé, former national deputy secretary of the extreme right party who lost stripes and in the new organizational chart he appears as a member of the Executive and as responsible for the Legal Coordination of the party together with Marta Castro. Buxadé, in his first declaration of assets presented in mid-July in the European Parliament, claimed to have received 2,200 monthly payments from Vox for his former position, that is, around 26,500 euros per year if it was in 12 payments, plus another 18,000 euros. annually as a “practicing attorney.” In another subsequent statement signed at the end of September of this same year, he claims not to receive anything from the party and to have an income of 3,000 euros per month as a lawyer.
To these amounts we must add his income as a European parliamentarian, which Buxadé does not detail, but which amounts to nearly 8,000 euros net per month, apart from the different per diems and supplements that the European Parliament pays to its deputies, which can amount to others. 4,500 additional euros.
Garriga also does not specify what he charges from Vox
Another of the lucky ones is Ignacio Garriga, whom Abascal promoted after the last extraordinary General Assembly held in January of this year, naming him sole vice president and general secretary of Vox. Garriga, who is a deputy in the Parliament of Catalonia, receives 88,973.60 euros per year from the regional chamber, in addition to 16,032.44 in allowances. In his declaration of activities and assets from the end of May of this year, however, he does not specify whether he receives money from Vox for his position as general secretary. In the box that refers to the “approximate amount of current accounts and other bank deposits” on the date of the declaration, which includes only the part corresponding to the declarant, the Catalan leader of Vox declares that he has 3,000 euros and a Renting Kia car since end of 2022.
In June, Garriga was denounced by a colleague from his own party for passing to the Chamber, as president of the Vox parliamentary group, invoices with personal expenses worth more than 39,000 euros between 2021 and 2022, according to what he announced. The Confidential. This was confirmed by a report from the Catalan Parliament in which it was confirmed that the Vox leader had charged expenses such as his children’s AMPA fee, hairdressing services or food delivery tickets from the Glovo application. From the far-right formation they limited themselves to saying that “in no case” did the report indicate that they had done “anything illegal or irregular.” After being reprimanded by the Parliament’s Board, he said that he had already “corrected some errors” and defended himself by saying that there was a “campaign against his honorability” and that of Vox.
Among the list of leaders on Vox’s payroll is also the deputy for Madrid María Ruíz Solás, who now occupies the Vice-Secretary of Territorial Organization and Institutional Relations. The formation paid him in 2023 its corresponding part of those 646,522 euros per year that were distributed among 12 members of the leadership. But the deputy limits herself to stating in her asset declaration registered in Congress at the beginning of the legislature that she receives “payrolls” for an amount of 29,581 euros, although she does not clarify who the payer is.
He also reveals that he paid 11,687 euros in personal income tax, says that he has a “regular home” as a result of a “purchase and sale” for which in 2019 he requested a loan of 364,000 euros and a second floor of “inheritance” of which he only owns “25%.” of full ownership”, both in Madrid. In the capital it also owns 5% of an office and a commercial premises in shares of a company. The Vox deputy declares that, at that time, she had 35,405 euros in her checking account and two vehicles, a Mitsubishi Space, and a Lexus 250 UX for the purchase of which she requested a loan in 2023 of 12,000 euros.
Along with all of them, there is also that the Treasurer, Pablo Sáez, who is a deputy for Valladolid and is on the National Executive Committee, received from Vox. But like most of his other fellow deputies, Sáez does not specify how much he earned from the party and in his Congressional statement he simply states 34,401 euros as “net salary compensation received.” Sáez paid 35,291 euros in personal income tax and has several homes: one in Madrid (50% freehold) with a garage and three others in Segovia (8.33% freehold), Valladolid (30% freehold) and Alicante (full ownership of 50%). He has requested a mortgage loan and three personal loans. He claims to have a total of 13,762 euros in his three checking accounts. The Vox Treasurer has a Hyundai Kona hybrid and another Hyundai i10, both acquired in 2022.
Javier Cortés Lucena, who is now the Deputy Secretary of Management of Vox and president of the Vox Parliamentary Group in Andalusia, also limits himself to acknowledging that his organic position within the Vox Party in Andalusia is “paid”, but does not say how much he earns.
The rest of the twelve leaders of the Vox leadership who received at least payrolls in 2023 and appear on the list provided in the formation’s accounts do not have public positions, although now several of them remain in the party bodies with various responsibilities. This is the case of Rosa Cuervas, who is responsible for the press in the Congress of Deputies and member of the National Executive; Montserrat Lluis, who is the Deputy Secretary of Government Action and Parliamentary Coordination, or Enrique Cabanas, who holds the Deputy Secretary of the Presidency and General Coordination.
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