The Treasury has managed to salvage what the Government describes as a “tax reform” in the final moments, although it is more of a new tax increase that will raise revenue by about €10.5 billion a year. The most significant change is for banks, which will not be taxed on profits but on revenues: it taxes the interest margin and commissions. This is not an extraordinary levy like the one that has been in effect during this year and last, which raised €1.7 billion in 2024. It is a tax for three years that tightens the tax burden for financial entities with more business in Spain. The Treasury has managed to approve a new maximum rate of 7%, which would affect CaixaBank, Santander, and BBVA. Sabadell, which earned less than €5 billion in Spain (€4.6 billion in 2023 in Spain, from interest margin and commissions), will apply a rate of 6%. Additionally, the deduction in the corporate tax that was included in the initial proposal has been eliminated. The revenue from this tax will be distributed among the autonomous communities under the common regime based on their GDP, and the Basque Country and Navarra will be able to negotiate it.
The Government has also salvaged today what was the skeleton of the tax reform: the transposition of the directive to implement a minimum corporate tax of 15% in Spain. The measure, according to calculations from the Treasury, will generate revenues of about €2.6 billion per year. This way, the Executive ensures it can aspire to the fifth payment of European funds, with €7.2 billion at stake, and avoids a sanction from Brussels. The Government has had to leave some measures by the wayside.
The most important is the equalization of the diesel tax with that of gasoline, which aimed to raise €1 billion annually. The proposal to reform the taxation of REITs has been rejected, a proposal that had prompted Merlin and Colonial to threaten to leave Spain. The parliamentary process for increasing taxes on insurance mutuals and imposing a 21% VAT on tourist apartments has also not passed. The luxury tax, which would tax yachts or high-end cars, has also failed to be approved.
And the tax on energy companies remains for later negotiation, whose elimination was agreed upon by the PSOE with Junts and PNV, but whose extension has been demanded by Sumar in order to support the fiscal package approved yesterday. It seems that an extension of the tax but with exemptions for energy companies investing in decarbonization could allow for a compromise.
