The provisional approval of the fiscal ordinances – taxes, rates and public prices – for 2024, the first test of fire that Mayor Jaume Collboni must pass, is still up in the air a few hours before they are to be voted on . Today’s municipal meeting will decide whether to initially approve them, which would open up a month for political groups, entities and individuals to present allegations, or reject them definitively. If the latter happens, the current ones will continue to apply on January 1. The minority socialist government is looking for support until the last moment to push its proposal forward, which was rejected by the opposition as a whole last week. On Wednesday, a pact with Junts, with whom they would add a majority, seemed feasible, but yesterday this possibility cooled.
The matter does not have a great quantitative value, because in the event that the tax ordinances of 2023 are maintained the impact on the total revenues expected for next year would be small for a budget that the government estimates, according to the his latest proposal, of 3,735 million euros. Yes, there is a qualitative background relevant to political transcendence. Whoever supports the mayor in this matter would mark the ground for a subsequent government pact or for the expansion of the same executive. The variable geometry that Collboni would like to apply for a while, at least until governance in Spain is clarified, does not seem like an easy task, since the two possible partners, Junts or BComú, want a stable agreement that the PSC has not offered them at the moment. For its part, ERC, which is necessary for an understanding of the left, does not feel comfortable either and has so far expressed that it prefers to continue in the opposition. The Commons, at least until yesterday, maintained their intention to vote against the tax ordinances, as did the Republicans, the PP and Vox. Although it was closer to no, Xavier Trias’ group did not reveal what it will do.
There is an exception. The bar and restaurant terrace fee, which the government has agreed with the industry association, will be voted on separately from the rest of the tax ordinances. Together, the PP and even Vox have been open to endorsing the proposal as it was presented and rejected in the Economy and Finance Committee, as long as it is subsequently modified to fulfill this commitment. This would lead, once the 75% bonus due to the covid crisis has disappeared, to an annual income of 4.6 million instead of the 8.2 million expected with the current scheme.
The rest will be voted on in another block. One of the figures that has focused attention is the IBI, which the government is proposing to freeze. Together, he wants it to be reduced by 2%, which would lead to 14 million less income, according to the calculations of this formation, in his opinion, acceptable. BComú, on the other hand, proposes to raise it for large holders, which would be equivalent, according to the government, to a 16% increase.
