MADRID, December 28 (OTR/PRESS) –
The economic crisis is still present despite the good words of Sánchez and his economic vice president. The data doesn’t lie and the Spanish economy has stagnated as it will continue to do, at least for the first half of next year. Despite this, and at the cost of the extra collection obtained with the sacrifice of all Spaniards, the government intends to approve a third package of measures to fight inflation and, incidentally, and above all to campaign for the next municipal and regional elections in May . With everyone’s money, without deflating the personal income tax rate, they sell us that the social shield remains intact, even if with some tricks. This taking into account that aid after the pandemic has left much to be desired.
The struggle between the two souls of the government has resurfaced and it could be said that each has obtained something for its own parish. The general 20 cent discount on fuel has ended, but will continue for transportation, fishing and agriculture. In return, the VAT is lowered on selected foods and is maintained for electricity and gas. However, Podemos has lost the battle to limit the increase in rents to more than 2% and full aid to those with variable rate mortgages. The discounts on transport are maintained and the 200 euro allowance for families is extended to retirees who do not even receive the minimum income. It seems that experiments on Díaz baskets or threats to supermarkets have been excluded from this new package of measures. The measures proposed by the PP leader, who had spent months asking the government to cut VAT on food, are triumphing.
Now we will see the effects that fuels will have on inflation and if they will be offset by the declines in some foods. What is clear is that the government, despite having more than 30,000 million extra revenues, is not willing to give back a significant part to the citizens through the deflation of the IRPEF rate, the fairest measure, even if it has decided and overwhelmingly to satisfy the million pensioners who from January 2023 will see their pension increase by 8.5%. Lots of rhetoric, but not a word on hunger lines, misleading employment data or the fact that Spain is the only country that has not been able to raise its wealth levels before the pandemic.
