The First Vice-President of the Spanish Government and Minister of the Economy, Nadia Calviño, yesterday had another meeting with the Second Vice-President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, this time on the occasion of the extraordinary tax on banking. Calviño’s statements in favor of revising it in view of the change in economic circumstances received a quick response from the government partner, who reminded him of the investiture agreements.
Yesterday’s clash took place after the discrepancies between the two ministers regarding the reform of the unemployment benefit and in full debate on the modification of the other extraordinary tax, that of energy companies, which, like the of banking, was approved last year to apply in 2023 and 2024 in response to rising profits as a result of the Ukraine war, inflation and interest rate hikes.
Calviño announced changes to the levy yesterday “taking into account that the circumstances have changed”. “It seems to me that it is time to review it and see if it is necessary to adjust some of the parameters to the new scenario we are in, in which there is no longer such a rapid rise in interest rates”, he assured. He did this before describing the tax as a “good decision” and saying that “it has met the collection expected by the Treasury and has served as an example to other European countries”.
This message caused a stir among the banks, which did not expect it, according to the sources consulted. The entities already assumed that any extension of the tax beyond 2024 would require a modification and processing as law in Congress. Now they are hoping for a review that softens it, as is expected to happen with the levy on energy companies.
Despite this, the most forceful reaction was that of Díaz, who reminded Calviño in Latin from Bilbao that “what has been agreed is binding”. “Pacta sunt servanda”, he told him, referring to the coalition agreement between the PSOE and Sumar. “We have just concluded an agreement with the PSOE, which gave the presidency of the Spanish Government to Mr. Sánchez, in which, in a clear way, precisely in moments of unprecedented inflation crisis, those who have the most must contribute more”, he added.
The government agreement between the PSOE and Sumar talks about a review of banking and energy taxes to “readjust them” and “maintain them once their current application period has expired”.
Despite the fact that Calviño considered that the time had come to revise the banking tax, from his department they clarified that it is not planned for it to be changed immediately. The Spanish Government, they assure, evaluates and analyzes in a “permanent” way the “fiscal system” to ensure that it is “in tune with the context and economic needs”.
In the case of energy, the Spanish Government has opened up to softening the tax to encourage investments in decarbonisation after Repsol threatened to cut future investments due to the new tax burden. Banks argue that they too have strategic investments and that higher fiscal pressure will prevent them from financing decarbonisation projects among other things.
The Spanish Government approved the banking tax with the aim of raising 3,000 million euros in two years with the argument that high interest rates had caused extraordinary profits in the sector. The main banking associations and all entities have appealed separately against the new tax, which taxes income at 4.8%, arguing that it is discriminatory. Among the entities, they also see it as improbable that the Spanish Government will approve an extension of the lien without first making public the position of the courts.
Díaz also got into the controversy with Calviño yesterday over the reform of unemployment benefits. The first calls for increasing the quantity and number of receivers, while the second defends more flexibility when making it compatible with an occupation. The Minister of Labor said yesterday that the attitudes are “distant”, but that she is confident of reaching an agreement.
