He defends that in Spain there is “margin” for a “more ambitious” taxation in fuels, the same line in which Montero’s group of experts works for tax reform
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) endorses the increase in taxes on fuels that Mara Jess Montero aspires to. In the report on the Spanish economy published this week, the agency points out that Spain has room for more ambitious fuel taxation, and clearly proposes a tax increase. Al diesel and also to the gasoline.
In this way, the IMF supports one of the main lines of work of the group of experts for fiscal reform, who have to deliver the document with their conclusions at the end of the month, and it goes even further than what the Minister of Finance wanted. reflected in the General State Budgets (PGE) this year. The opposition of the PNV forced Montero to eliminate the rise in diesel at the last moment, a measure that he even quantified and promised to Brussels. But even then from the Ministry it was pointed out that the action was only postponed, and 2023, the year in which the tax reform will be in force at the latest, is the moment chosen by the Treasury to resume it.
However, from some spheres of the Government itself and, specifically, from the Ministry of Agriculture, attempts are being made to stop the measure even before it is announced. The reason: that the price of fuel is in all-time highs and an increase in taxes would only increase the burden already suffered by carriers, taxi drivers and, of course, farmers. All of them represent very important fishing grounds in which other parties are very willing to fish. An obvious example: that of Vox and the farmers and ranchers.
But an increase in the prices of gasoline and diesel would also affect, equally directly, to the middle and working classes, the same ones that Montero always told not to raise taxes. In fact, the IMF recognizes that the impact of the increase would be heterogeneous and that, in addition, it would have important consequences for rural households given that their spending on fuel is greater as they have to travel longer distances and have limited means of public transport.
The document from the organization headed by Kristalina Gueorguieva also reflects on the fact that in Spain, like the rest of the European countries, diesel taxes are substantially lower. These lower costs increase the demand for diesel cars, which represent around 60% of the automobile fleet in Spain, explains the Fund, when precisely diesel has a higher carbon content and offers worse behavior than gasoline vehicles in terms of pollution. .
Is that it makes no sense that diesel has a tax benefit over gasoline when what is precisely sought is to reduce emissions. And it is that these tax modifications, which are promoted by the IMF and studied by Montero’s experts, are part of what is called green taxation and which seeks to raise tax revenues by penalizing the most polluting behaviors and activities.
Along with these actions, the tax reform group has also worked on the tax harmonization that the Minister of Finance has been pursuing since she arrived at the Ministry. The specific proposal will be known shortly, but what seems certain is that they will propose some minimums for the whole country that avoid total tax creditsjust as the Community of Madrid, Andalusia or the Region of Murcia does in some of the assigned taxes.
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