In the agreement that Junts signed with the PSOE for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez in November, the commitment was left in writing to address the financing of Catalonia in the negotiation between both organizations, which is one of the central issues of this electoral campaign. JxCat’s proposal is for Catalonia to collect all taxes and this Friday former president Carles Puigdemont, in a press conference in Argelers in which he presented the program and his roadmap for the first 100 days of government, warned that his group will demolish the general budgets of the State if an economic agreement is not approved that allows the Government to collect 100% of the taxes. His proposal is that the organic law on Financing of the Autonomous Communities (Lofca) be modified and the uniqueness of Catalonia be included there, as is already the case with Euskadi and Navarra.
In that sense, the former president has opted to “take advantage of the historic opportunity” to condition Spanish politics given the correlation of forces in the Congress of Deputies and has warned that we must “negotiate face to face with the State” rather than dialogue. “We are capable of doing something that Salvador Illa and Pere Aragonès have already shown that they would not do, which is to vote no to the general budgets of the State,” said Puigdemont. “The PSOE knows this, perhaps that is why the general budgets of the State were not presented,” he added. “Can Illa say that? ERC will vote yes to everything as it has done in the past,” stated the post-convergent leader.
Another of the notable measures that JxCat promises if he heads the Catalan executive after the May 12 elections is to “review” and “reduce or eliminate” Catalonia’s taxes and give “an economic boost” to Catalonia. “Restart the Catalan economy,” he summarized. “The straw has already broken the camel’s back, we have a suffocating fiscal pressure. Catalans do not have to pay for the State’s non-compliance,” denounced Puigdemont, who believes that “there is a structural problem in the tax basket.”
“You have to detect what is efficient and what is not. There are taxes that generate more costs than they collect,” said the leader of Junts. “We propose a review of the entire basket of taxes that we Catalans pay under the criterion that we Catalans do not have to pay an additional fiscal effort derived from the failures of the State with Catalonia,” continued the former Catalan president, who assures that They seek “a tax haven or tax dumping”, but rather that the taxes that “rationally correspond” are paid.
The formation had demanded the elimination of the inheritance tax in the negotiation with the Government of Pere Aragonès for the budgets of the Generalitat as well as the reduction of more taxes such as personal income tax in the lowest section, a deflation in all sections to alleviate the effects of inflation and touching societies among others. The sectoral presentation at the last JxCat congress also included a proposal to analyze the convenience of eliminating the wealth tax or raising the minimum tax exemption in some cases. In the Junts program, in fact, some of these measures are already included.
Likewise, the party commits to “present a stimulus package with fiscal measures that encourage investment and consumption.” In that sense, taxation will be reviewed to “stop the fiscal pressure.” The formation is open to eliminating some taxes “given the competitive harm they pose to the economic fabric and attracting investments,” as highlighted in the document revealed today.
In the business field, there is a commitment to encourage the hiring of unemployed people over 55 years of age and they want to promote reindustrialization and “strengthen the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem in Catalonia to attract strategic investment” now that the European Union wants to invest in that area. to reduce its dependence on Southeast Asia.
To reduce bureaucracy, another of JxCat’s flags in recent months, the group has assured that they will “refound” the public administration, so that a role does not stop projects, the former president has detailed. “Citizens are fed up, and public servants even more so,” stated the leader of JxCat. Puigdemont has stated that they have prepared the documents presented today after a “listening process” with the sectors involved, who regret, says the leader, that they are not being listened to.
In relation to the Catalan language, one of the main concerns of JxCat, Puigdemont has assured that this “has to be the legislature of Catalan”, both in the educational field and in others, with encouragement for projects that are developed in Catalan and Aranese.
In addition, the training is committed to presenting a program so that people who arrive in Catalonia “receive specific linguistic attention, with introductory courses to the” Catalan language.
The formation ensures that in the first 100 days if they are at the head of the Generalitat they will present the draft law for the Police system of Catalonia and affirms that it will guarantee the generational change in the Mossos d’Esquadra. Safety is also one of the issues that training has focused on in recent months.
To confront the drought, the post-convergent candidate has asked for water sovereignty, the transfer to the Generalitat of the Ebro hydrographic basins and has proposed water reuse and more desalination plants. “The climate emergency is not a current fever, it is a problem,” he said. He has also regretted that Catalonia is behind Europe in renewable energies.
The former president has already indicated in recent days that his intention is to govern hand in hand with Esquerra Republicana, which is why he advocates recovering the unity of the independence movement and this Friday he insisted in that sense.
