CATALONIA -- Catalan News Agency - Catalonia’s Tax Administration is launched to guarantee self-government

Catalan News Agency - Catalonia’s Tax Administration is launched to guarantee self-government

Catalonia’s Tax Administration is launched to guarantee self-government

CNA

Barcelona (ACN).- The new Tax
Administration of Catalonia (called ‘Tributs de Catalunya’) has been
launched on Thursday in a ceremony chaired by Artur Mas, the President
of the Catalan Government. Mas highlighted that “all of this is not
against the Spanish State” but it is “an investment for a better
Catalonia”. The new body was created from merging the existing Catalan
Government’s Tax Agency – which had extremely limited powers – and the
ones of the four Provincial Councils (Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and
Tarragona). This is the formula agreed upon in September 2012,
aiming to build “a state structure” that would ultimately be able to
collect all the taxes generated in Catalonia if needed. However, a Tax
Administration was already foreseen in the Catalan Statute of Autonomy
approved by the Spanish Parliament and the Catalan people through a
binding referendum in 2006. The new body kicks off this Thursday with 53
branches. Most of them were branches of the Provincial Councils’ tax
agencies until this morning. Nonetheless, their activity in the first
few weeks will not experience any significant changes since they will
mostly deal with municipal taxes anyway. However, the Tax Administration
will gradually grow in the coming months until it will reach some 200
branches spread throughout the country. Its mid-term goal is to become a
single-access point to pay taxes and fees to municipalities, Provincial
Councils, Catalan Government and the Spanish Executive, being able to
collect all the taxes generated in the country. The parties opposing
Catalonia’s Self-determination, including the Catalan Socialist Party
(PSC) – which was the leading force behind the 2006 Statute foreseeing
such a Tax Administration, have criticised the project. According to
them, the new body is a structure for Catalonia’s independence from
Spain, which is another obstacle against the talks between Catalan and
Spanish authorities. However, the majority of Catalan parties, which
support self-determination, welcomed the new agency.

Needed to counteract the Spanish Government’s recentralisation and fiscal “asphyxia”

The new body aims to guarantee Catalonia’s fiscal sufficiency, as a
response to the Spanish Government’s recentralisation offensive and
tight “control” and “strangulation of the Catalan Executive’s finances”,
as explained by Artur Mas. “We are in the middle of a centralist urge
regarding the approval of certain laws”, “which damage our
self-government”, he stated. “The Catalan Government’s financial
dependency from the Spanish Government, from State’s central
institutions, combined with [these] laws […] is lethal for the exercise
of our self-government”, he added. “Fiscal asphyxia is a very effective
way to reduce [Catalonia’s] self-government”, pointed out Mas. In fact,
the Catalan President regretted that creating such an agency had not
been decided earlier. According to him, it was a mistake for Catalan
parties not to have prioritised Catalonia’s fiscal autonomy in the last
30 years.

A wide majority of Catalans support the creation of such an agency

The Tax Administration is the main structure of Catalonia’s own
Treasury. In the event of becoming an independent state, Catalonia would
need such a tax agency anyway. However, in the event of staying within
Spain and obtaining the so-called Fiscal Agreement, this body would also
be needed since this relationship formula foresees that Catalonia would
collect all its taxes, as the Basque Country and Navarra already do.
According to polls, the support for independence is between 45% and 63%
of the total population. However, the support from those who want
Catalonia to collect all its taxes would reach between 75% and 80%,
including the main business association, which is reluctant to
independence.

A single-access point to pay taxes

In this Thursday’s presentation, not many details have been disclosed
about how exactly the new Tax Administration will work. However, a new
website has been introduced: tributs.cat. Through this online portal
Catalan citizens and companies will be able to pay the taxes and fees to
the five public administrations behind the new agency: the Catalan
Government and the Provincial Councils of Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and
Tarragona. Moreover, users will also be able to pay taxes and fees to
the Spanish Government. It will therefore act as a single-access point
to pay taxes. It starts with 53 branches and some 1,500 workers (coming
from the existing bodies), but it will gradually increase its
capacities.

The new Tax Administration’s main pillars are the fight against
fiscal fraud and being a public body close to the citizens. If the
parliamentary agreement between the governing Centre-Right Catalan
Nationalist Coalition (CiU) and the opposition Left-Wing Catalan
Independence Party (ERC) is respected, the new Tax Administration should
be ready to collect all the taxes in Catalonia by next July. Its budget
for 2014 reaches €29 million and the Catalan Government has put €6
additional million aside to hire some 30 additional tax technicians.
However, such a budget would be insufficient to collect all the taxes
generated in Catalonia.

The embryo of a larger agency

A report issued by the Catalan Government’s advisory Council for the National Transition
stated that a tax agency taking care of all Catalonia’s taxation and
fees would need an operational budget of minimum €400 million, while
ideally it should reach €700 million to perform with the highest
international standards and effectiveness. Furthermore, it should have
between 7,000 and 8,000 workers. Therefore, the new body launched this
Thursday would still be an embryo of such an agency. However, the
current objective is to built the basis and gather the experience and
knowledge to be ready to quickly implement the project when the time
comes.

More on

Artur Mas, Barcelona Province Council, C's, Catalan Budget, Catalan Government, Catalan Independence, Catalan Parliament, Catalan Tax Administration, Centralism, CiU, CUP, Democracy, ERC, Finances, Fiscal Agreement, Fiscal Agreement Summit, Fiscal Balances, Fiscal Deficit, Girona Province Council, ICV-EUiA, Independence, Lleida Province Council, PP, Province Council, PSC, Recentralisation, Self-Determination, Spanish Government, Tarragona Province Council, Taxation, Taxes, Vote

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The presentation of Catalonia's Tax Administration (by ACN)

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Videos

Related links

http://www.catalannewsagency.com/politics/item/eleven-town-halls-pay-their-taxes-to-the-catalan-tax-agency-instead-of-the-spanish-one http://www.catalannewsagency.com/politics/item/the-catalan-finance-ministry-has-been-restructured-in-order-to-develop-catalonias-own-treasury