PSOE talks to increase a range of business taxes

THE governing Partido Socialista (PSOE) has held talks with allies from a leftist party in Parliament over plans to increase a range of business taxes, a senior member said.
The proposals were floated during talks between PSOE officials and members of the Unidos Podemos group over next year’s budget plans.
Pablo Echenique, Podemos’ Organisation Secretary, said members of the government had told his party they were willing to look into proposals to hike rates on business savings.
Making multinationals pay more to the Spanish Treasury and taxing transactions was also discussed, Echenique added.
“Both parties were curious as to why many business taxes were not progressive and we considered studying it in future meetings,” Echenique said.
“Taxation not only serves to pay for the Welfare State. It also serves to create economic justice in the country so that people and companies contribute in a progressive manner depending on their wealth,” the Podemos official added.
Progressive taxation refers to a system where payers hand over larger proportions of their earnings if those rise above set levels.
Rates including those on banks, multinationals and digital firms were discussed at the meeting. There was also talk of simplifying the corporate tax regime which Echenique claimed left smaller companies paying proportionately higher levels of tax than large firms.
Nothing was agreed at the meeting and both Podemos and PSOE are set to look into the proposals before committing to the plans.