MADRID – Spain and Catalonia’s regional government jointly unveiled a proposed fiscal scheme for Barcelona on Monday, amid concerns that the “unique” financing plan could undermine the principle of solidarity among the country’s autonomous regions.
The proposal would gradually grant the Catalan Tax Agency full authority to collect, manage and spend its own taxes. Unlike the current model, which is based on regional expenditure needs, the new framework would focus on revenue and shared responsibility.
“We are moving from a model focused on expenses to one that looks at revenues and is based on co-responsibility,” said Councillor to the Catalan Presidency, Albert Dalmau, after Monday’s meeting in Barcelona.
Pushed by the left-wing separatist ERC, the proposal would require an absolute majority of 176 votes in Congress to reform Spain’s Organic Law on regional financing.
While ERC president Oriol Junqueras claimed that a vote will be held this week, Ángel Víctor Torres, Spain’s Minister of Territorial Policy, has suggested that talks will resume after the summer.
The plan is opposed by both the conservative opposition and the right-wing separatist Junts, which – unlike ERC – refuses collaboration with the central government and pushes for a Basque-style arrangement granting full financial autonomy.
The reform has reignited the national debate surrounding the principle of “’solidarity” – the system of interregional economic transfers that underpin Spain’s current tax structure.
Only the Basque Country and Navarre regions are exempt from this system due to historical rights.
(cs)