The Economy Circle asks to extend the economic concert to all CCAA and that Madrid increases the effort in “solidarity”

The business and civic association, chaired by Jaume Guardiola, He points out that the reform of Catalan regional financing “cannot be postponed” and that now, without specifying the reason but, in any case, it has to be done with a “constructive attitude”, it is the right time to take it ended: “You can’t miss the opportunity.” Thus, if the PSC-CERT Pact is fulfilled, “the self-government of Catalonia can make a leap forward and, at the same time all the CCAA, without exception, they should be reinforced and also the mechanism of solidarity between them.” An argument that is the one defended by the Socialists since in summer signed the investiture agreement with ERC so that Illa could take the Generalitat.

Regarding the detail of the pact in favor of the economic concert for the Generalitat, the circle considers that “the institutional design” of the Tax Agency of Catalonia (ATC), which will collect and manage all the taxes in the region, must be coordinated with the National Tax Agency (AT), although it must be the first who has the last word, to avoid ineffective and inefficiencies. “The nature of the institution, reinforced by the new responsibilities (…), makes it the Generalitat who has to have the key to its governance,” says the entity that also criticizes those who denounce that “the State would disappear from Catalonia” because it would be the one who would maintain in a coordinated way “normative capacity on taxes supported in Catalonia.” Although For the circle it should be “broader” The ability of ATC to the detriment of the current AT.

In this way, with an ATC having ‘the key of the box’ the Generalitat would “step forward in its ability to self -government” and, above all, “I could have the resources directly and immediately, without negotiating it with third parties,” That is, without the State could decide or the rest of CCAA to influence. Thus, the circle recalls that in 2018 he proposed an alternative of tax collection to the current one in which the two administrations “shared the tax bases, so that they could be taxed simultaneously by the two administrations”, that is, both the AT and the ATC would have “normative capacities” on the taxes.

In any case, from the entity the limitation of solidarity between regions is also addressed. The circle is committed to an economic concert that makes clear the solidarity that corresponds to the Generalitat once all taxes are collected. The model and calculation of this transfer must be “transparent”, “effective”, understood in the sense of finalist, and “fair”, that is, that it is limited by the ordinality system, a system that limits solidarity between communities, In a per capita calculation, which is that the entity is based.

Beyond the constituencing financing reform to Catalonia, the circle advocates to extend the model. «The new model must provide more resources to the whole of the CCAA. One way to achieve it, according to the proposal that the circle made in 2018, is that All CCAA who wish, and have the necessary means, share the tax bases with the central administration, ”says the opinion note this Thursday.

Apart chapter is that of the autonomous remover, an initiative for which the Government will assume more than 83,000 million euros of CCAA debt. The Generalitat will fight 17,104 million euros that owed the General State Administration, which assumes that amount. The circle recalls that the autonomous debt went from 6% of GDP in 2007 to 24.9% in 2016 and 22.2% in 2023. Hence the proposal for the condonation of the debt of the regions is acceptable, already approved in the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council and that must still go through Congress, Because “it will help reduce the financial expenses” of the CCAA, “it will reduce the dependence of the financing provided by the central administration” and “will be provided by the return to the sources of financing that were closed during the financial crisis.”

However, the calculation used by the Government does not seem appropriate to the entity. “The general formula that has been applied (…) is arbitrary.” According to the circle, a different system should have been used, which would have benefited more from Catalonia and the Valencian Community and have linked the condonation of the autonomous debt to “the approval of a new financing model that solves the problems of financial sufficiency.”

In this line, one of the proposals of the association for when the reform of the CCAA financing system is addressed is that several aspects that determine the aid and income of the regional governments are eliminated. For the circle, everything must be based on the number of citizens and, therefore, it makes no sense that criteria such as those of The dispersion Or, for example, the age of the inhabitants. And, in any case, if this is not possible, add another such as cost of life. Matters all online to improve the financing of Catalonia and reduce that of other regions. In summary, that the new model suppresses the funds of Global sufficiency and of Convergence, They aim to balance the standard of living of citizens.

But, without a doubt, one of the most controversial aspects of the circle’s note is the proposal that the system includes a greater burden on the distribution of solidarity for the Community of Madrid. «The case of The Community of Madrid deserves a special mention. The reform of the financing system should also serve to recognize the responsibility of this region as the capital of Spain and the benefits obtained by the concentration of economic activity that the current institutional model generates, as the Valencian Institute of Economic Research (IVIE) has documented », collects the text.

And it continues: «The Community of Madrid It benefits of a disproportionate concentration of the state public occupation. In addition to the different ministries, the headquarters of many other entities dependent on the central administration that could be located in other places are also centralized. To this is added a significant and chronic bias in public hiring in favor of headquarters in Madrid and the concentration of strategic infrastructure ».

Therefore, the circle, which ensures that Madrid’s economic activity would be lower if this advantage did not occur, proposes that “while this is so,” «The solidarity of the Community of Madrid with the rest of the territory must be reinforced». And, in addition, the business entity criticizes, also, that “the fiscal competence” promoted from the Government of the Community of Madrid has accentuated the “resource drain” of this region of the rest of Spain, since “attracts population and economic activity of the communities that surround it.”

For all this, from the circle they consider that “the current model has reached a situation of imbalance between the resources of the central administration and those of the CCAA” and, therefore, “You have to correct it” with a new model of regional financing that is “key to strengthening solidarity between the territories”, which “guarantees that all citizens receive basic public services and regardless of the place where they reside” and that, ultimately, it limits solidarity by agreeing. “The regional financing system also vertebra the country politically,” warns the circle, which adds, that “it is desirable that you enjoy a broad social and territorial consensus for prevent permanent focus of a political conflict which also has economic implications ».

Finally, from the entity chaired by Guardiola, the substantive issue is focused on the fact that “the new political cycle needs a new financing model” and recalls that the signed agreements, between the socialists and the independentistas, “have generated great expectations.” “It seems that the time has come to resolve the territorial imbalances that have conditioned, condition and condition the Spanish governance” and will remain “If they are not addressed” with the objective of “avoiding sterile institutional conflicts, territorial crises in which we will lose all and the loss of opportunities and development that we need to improve the productivity of the country.”