RTVE has organized, this Thursday, May 2, the second electoral debate of the May 12 campaign. Moderated by Gemma Nierga and Xabier Fortes, it has brought together the heads of the list for Barcelona – with the exception of ex-president Carles Puigdemont: Salvador Illa (PSC), Pere Aragonès (ERC), Josep Rull (Junts), Ignacio Garriga (Vox), Laia Estrada (CUP), Jéssica Albiach (Comuns Sumar), Carlos Carrizosa (Cs) and Alejandro Fernández (PP).
Below, you will find the Verificat team’s fact-checks on the candidates’ interventions. You can consult our methodology, here.
The Vox candidate, Ignacio Garriga, has assured that “Catalans pay more than 15 taxes of their own,” but this statement is only half true. Catalonia is the autonomous community with the most taxes of its own, but it has 11 and not 15, as the head of the Vox list says.
The figure of 15, however, can be obtained by adding the four state taxes that can be modified by the autonomous communities, such as, for example, the Inheritance Tax or the Personal Income Tax. Furthermore, Garriga has stated that in Aragón —where Vox governs—, they have ten fewer taxes. Actually, they have five. Therefore, there are six taxes less than in Catalonia.
For his part, the Ciutadans candidate, Carlos Carrizosa, has declared that Catalonia is the autonomous community where the most personal income tax is paid, something that the Vox presidential candidate has also defended. But it is misleading.
The number of variables that influence the calculation of this tax make establishing a correct general comparison not possible. What can be stated is that the minimum rate in Catalonia, 10.50%, is the highest of all the autonomous communities, but the second is already equal to other Autonomous Communities. On the other hand, the maximum Catalan rate is not the highest (25.50%).
Furthermore, Catalunya is not the community with the most tax brackets either. It has nine, while Navarra and the Valencian Community have eleven. Galicia and Madrid, on the other hand, have five. The division of brackets can also mean differences when comparing how much the average population pays.
Josep Rull, who represented Puigdemont-Junts per Catalunya in the debate, noted that “the fiscal deficit is absolutely devastating: 20,000 million euros of the Catalans’ fiscal effort leave and do not return.” Carlos Carrizosa has replied: “it is not true.”
Where does this figure come from? We explain it to you.
According to the Generalitat’s calculation, in 2021 the State collected 22,000 million euros from Catalan taxes that have not been reinvested in Catalonia. This deficit represented 9.6% of Catalan GDP, one of the highest figures in history, surpassed only in 1993, 2002 and 2020.
And how do you arrive at this number? The Generalitat uses the “monetary flow” method, which counts as expenditure only that which is made effective in the territory in question and ignores that which is made outside the autonomous community.
There are other methods to calculate the fiscal balance – the difference between the contribution of Catalan taxpayers to the Spanish public coffers and the return on the State’s investments in Catalonia.
The “burden-benefit” method, for example, incorporates other State expenses that can generate some benefit for Catalonia, regardless of whether they have been carried out in Catalan territory. For example, it could be argued that investing in the Madrid-Barajas airport would benefit Catalonia, since there are intercontinental tourists who pass through there before arriving in Catalonia. Finally, the neutralization method distributes a part of the deficit (or surplus) of the General State Administration to each autonomous community, something that would vary the fiscal deficit.
In any case, Josep Rull has compared these 21,982 million fiscal deficit with the budget of the Community of Madrid. For 2024, the community chaired by Ayuso has approved its accounts worth 27,558 million euros, a figure that exceeds Catalonia’s fiscal deficit with Spain by 25%.
The president of the Generalitat and Esquerra Republicana candidate for the May 12 elections, Pere Aragonès, has pointed out that Catalonia’s budget has grown by 30%. But it is misleading, since he ignores the inflation that the community has suffered, as well as the increase in population.
Although it is true that the budget of the Generalitat has increased by 26% between 2021 and 2023 – from 32,500 million euros to 41,000 million euros (those for 2024 were not approved) – these data are in current euros, which do not have taking into account inflation.
In these years, the CPI has risen 13%. Taking into account the increase in prices, the increase in budgets remains at 13%. If, in addition, we consider that the population has grown by 250,000 people, the budget increase (constant € per inhabitant) remains at 11%: a third of what Aragonès has stated.
The head of the Ciutadans list has denounced that “the government opens embassies, but they do not provide doctors.” It’s false. The staff of public health centers has increased by 29.3% since 2020. In per capita terms, this increase has meant going from 3.5 professionals per 1,000 inhabitants, in 2020, to 4.5. in 2023.
The ERC candidate for re-election has indicated in the RTVE debate that Catalonia today has “more Mossos, more health workers and more teachers than ever.” This is a half-truth.
If the available data (since 2015) is observed in absolute terms, the statement is true: there are 45,966 teachers in primary school and 43,507 in secondary school. But it is relevant to look at the ratios. Last year, there were 11.9 students per teacher in primary school and 9.9 in secondary school. Ratios that were lower before 2010: 10.4 in primary and 9.3 in secondary. That is, each teacher had fewer students in his charge.
The statements regarding the members of the Mossos d’Esquadra Corps and health personnel are true, both in absolute terms and per inhabitant.
In terms of security, Garriga has declared that “Catalonia is the region with the most insecurity in all of Spain.” This is a half-truth, since the crime rate in Catalonia is lower than that of the Balearic Islands.
On the other hand, it should be noted that Catalonia is the second region of the State with the most known criminal acts per 1,000 inhabitants, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior. In addition, it occupies the fourth position in crime increase compared to the previous year.
Still in terms of security, Vox’s number 1 for Barcelona has lamented that in Catalonia murders have “increased by 30% compared to 2022.” This figure is misleading. Although it has grown, it has done so by 12% and not 30%, as the Vox candidate has stated.
In Catalonia, in 2023 there were eight more murders and homicides than in 2022, as shown by the Crime Balance of the Ministry of the Interior.
Garriga has also stated that 78% of those detained in Catalonia have been foreigners. However, this data is misleading because it corresponds to foreign detainees in Barcelona. In the case of Catalonia, in 2022 foreigners represented 49% of those detained in Catalonia, according to data from the Crime Statistical Portal of the Ministry of the Interior.
However, of the total number of foreigners detained, only 39.1% are subsequently convicted. On the other hand, of the detained Spaniards, 60% of the total are sentenced, a higher figure than in the case of people with foreign nationality.
Over the last few decades, there has been an exponential increase in immigration to both Catalonia and Spain. However, the growth of the foreign population has not been accompanied by a similar growth trend in the crime rate. This reflects that there is no causal relationship between immigration and crime, as some studies also show, since crime is multi-causal. In fact, the probability that an immigrant with good job opportunities will be a criminal is no greater than that of a native under the same conditions.
The head of the Vox list also announced during the debate on RTVE that “the Madrid partners recently signed a great pact for mass regularization for more than half a million people in an irregular situation.” It is false information.
What happened in the Congress of Deputies on April 9 is that a Popular Legislative Initiative (ILP) was admitted for processing, that is, a regulatory proposal promoted by citizens. The first step is, therefore, to approve the beginning of its processing, which is what all the groups voted for in the plenary session, with the exception of Vox.
This vote does not imply any agreement or that the situation of those half a million people will be automatically regularized. From this moment, the parliamentary process of the regulations begins in Congress, where the groups can make changes to the proposal based on amendments. Once the text has gone through the various procedures, it will return to the Lower House for its final version to be voted on and then must be definitively approved by the Senate.
Garriga has also criticized that “social aid has always gone to those who have just arrived and they are denied to ordinary Catalans.” It’s false.
The main aid from the Generalitat is not granted based on nationality, but rather on economic criteria. To begin with, migrants in an irregular administrative situation, to whom Garriga could be referring, can only access the most basic social benefits: health and education. They cannot, in any case, access economic benefits such as the Guaranteed Citizenship Income (RGC).
Furthermore, only 21.3% of RGC holders and 16% of public housing holders are foreigners. To compare:
These aid are awarded based on income, as we already explained in this verification. And there is a clear link between origin and poverty: 47% of the foreign population in Catalonia is at risk of poverty or social exclusion, while for people with Spanish nationality, the rate is 19%. This is indicated by the Arope rate, collected by Idescat for 2023.
During the debate, the Ciutadans candidate stated that Catalonia “on the issue of renewables we are behind the rest of the autonomous communities because they have not known how to implement infrastructures.” There are several variables to take into account when talking about this issue. We explain them to you.
On the one hand, Catalonia is the fifth autonomous community that has installed the least renewables in the last five years. Furthermore, only 15% of the energy generated in the territory comes from renewable sources, trailing only the Balearic Islands.
On the other hand, it is the seventh community that produced the most green energy during 2022 and is also the seventh in installed power.
The Junts candidate, Josep Rull, has stated that in Barcelona “there was a tripartite between the PSC, the PP and the Comuns”, but it is false. In the council of the Catalan capital there is no tripartite, only the Socialist Party governs with Jaume Collboni as mayor. The socialists and the commoners voted in favor of the investiture, but are not part of the municipal government. In fact, they didn’t even approve the budgets.
