On Tuesday, the Government had on its agenda to present a transactional amendment to the European directive that requires setting a minimum for Corporate Tax, in which it was preparing to insert an extension to the extraordinary taxes on banks and energy companies, introduced after the war of Ukraine. But the vote on the amendment had to be delayed for the third consecutive time after Junts spoke out against it.
Junts opposes the tax because it taxes oil companies more than electricity companies and asks to rebalance it
The party of Puigdemont It is not the first time that he has left the Government stranded. He had already surprised him with opposition to the regulation of seasonal rentals. On this occasion, it was acting in tandem with the Catalan employers’ association, Foment del Treball, which the day before had issued a statement warning of the negative impact on the Tarragona chemical hub, where one of Repsol’s main refineries is located, in the that 1,100 million are at stake in an eco-plant and a green hydrogen project.
The Executive’s efforts to extend a tax that should expire at the end of the year worries the sector because the drop in oil prices has reduced the margin in its refineries, which in the coming years will need an enormous investment effort to decarbonize and adapt their fuels to the regulations. “This condemns us to closing the nine existing refineries in Spain within a period of ten years, with the loss of nearly 200,000 jobs,” they warn in the sector.
Repsol alone estimates that 1.5 billion will not be executed in various electrolysis projects to produce hydrogen associated with its refineries. To this we should add 3,000 million in the Hydrogen Valley in Huelva, where Cepsa has its large refinery, or in Castellón, where BP announced an investment even greater than that of Cepsa. The sector’s employers’ association, AOP, goes further and considers lost the 16 billion planned in the decarbonization plan for 2030.
Montero included the collection in the fiscal plan sent to Brussels and now he has a problem
Pressure from both institutions and companies caused the decision to be moved to next week. The first vice president, Maria Jesus Monterocame to recognize the possibility that it may not be approved. “Hopefully we can get it,” he said. Junts withdrew its support, alleging that the tax imposed a disproportionate punishment on oil companies in relation to electricity companies, which have remained in the background on this occasion. The difference is that in your case it would only tax unregulated activity, which is a minority in all of them.
To make matters worse, the possible transfer of the management of the tribute by the Concert system to the Basque Country provoked the angry reaction of the Andalusian president, John Morenowhich was later added by the Castilian-Leonese doll and the Aragonese Jorge Azcon.
The Treasury now intends for the legal figure, which was born as a property benefit, to be fully integrated into the tax system. The difference is that now it has a final character, its collection must be allocated to a specific purpose, while in the future it will finance public spending in general. This creates a double taxation problem, which companies have already said they will challenge in court. The oil companies point out that they would pay close to 49% in Companies.
The Treasury plans to introduce a reduction on operating profit, which is estimated at 30%. However, the oil companies are radically against the reform because their profits were drastically reduced, so the deduction would be scarce. Cepsa even entered losses of 233 million last year, after paying 323 million for the tax.
Furthermore, they warn that this system of deductions, no matter how minimal, leaves investments in the hands of the central government, which will decide what is incentivized and what is not. “It is a way to increase control and regulation over the sector, so that any investment depends on its approval,” they say.
A different case is banking. The financial entities came out on Thursday with a joint statement from the two large employers’ associations, AEB and Cecabank, after having maintained a discreet silence in recent months. Their situation is different, they recognize in the sector, because their income statement is much better than that of the oil companies due to the improvement in interest rates, although they are now lower, and because they cannot take clients to another country or paralyze their investments in technology.
The Government would be willing to apply it based on results and extend it to all entities, addressing two of their complaints. The two employers’ associations expressed their strong rejection of the extension of the tax because it would make us the only country to have it and would reduce its competitiveness. They evaluate the loss of financing capacity at 50,000 million.
The head of Economy, Carlos Bodyrecognized that the political will to extend both taxes. In fact, it included the income of almost 2.5 billion in the fiscal plan sent to the EU, in which it committed to reducing public spending by 6 billion annually.
We haven’t done our homework for years and public spending has run amok. We have wasted the inflationary stage, which skyrocketed public income, to make the necessary adjustments and now we have a serious problem.
Without Budgets for the second consecutive year and without even a guaranteed spending ceiling, the situation is desperate. The Government is looking for money under the rocks to be able to meet the ambitious deficit-cutting objectives committed to the EU. But doing so at the cost of sending billions of investment to hell is a low blow to the battered competitiveness of the Spanish economy, which will take its toll in terms of employment and growth. Bread for today and hunger for tomorrow.
The worst thing is that while they collect with one hand, they waste with the other. This week it was learned that Industry opened a file against QEV Technologies for the 22 million granted for the start-up of an electric car factory in the Free Trade Zone. The project, which did not have sufficient guarantees from the bank, also obtained 40 million in guarantees from the Generalitat of Catalonia under the Government of Pere Aragonés. QEV laid off 30% of its staff after entering pre-insolvency proceedings. If the banks refused to finance the project, why did the Government or the Generalitat do it? Political interests predominated over common sense.
QEV’s hole is known shortly after the commission agent’s efforts came to light Victor de Aldamawith the former Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalosto ensure that the SEPI Solvency Fund saved Air Europa with 475 million. For Inri, the aid was illegal because the Globalia tourism group, to which the airline belongs, is in debt to the Treasury. But the Government looked the other way.
The last state intervention of uncertain ending is that of Talgo. The Minister of Transport, Oscar Puentedeclared the company as strategic, despite the fact that its sector had been excluded from this classification after the pandemic. He then vetoed its purchase by the Hungarian Magyar Wagon, based on a report on the Russian connections of its shareholders carried out by the CNI, which was never made public and which the EU accepted without question or clarification.
Given the impossibility of finding an industrial partner to acquire the company, Sanchez had to articulate a purchase operation for the Spanish train manufacturer with the support of the Basque Government and SEPI. The main investor will be José Antonio Jainagaa renowned Basque manager, who already saved Sidenor from bankruptcy, but who has no idea about the train business.
If CAF, which does know about trains, did not dare to enter for fear of possible sanctions derived from non-compliance with the 3,000 million contract with Germany. What are the chances of strangers succeeding? We can only hope that the hose of public money will serve as a fire extinguisher in case of difficulties.
P.S..- The next departure of the former first vice president and Minister of Economy, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaríafrom the Cuatrecasas law firm, feeds the Madrid crowds about whether his next destination will be Feijoo’s PP. The recent hesitations on labor matters by its leader and the lack of direction in the economic thinking of the opposition party point to the need to reinforce the team with heavyweights in the sector.
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