Spanish tax inspectors are pushing back hard against Catalunya’s plans to beef up its own tax agency. The Association of State Tax Inspectors has called the Catalan parliament’s decree illegal and says it threatens constitutional principles.
The Catalan parliament approved a decree on Wednesday that strengthens the Agència Tributària de Catalunya as part of preparations for a new financing model. Right now, that model is still being negotiated between the Catalan and Spanish governments to fulfil agreements with ERC.
However, Spanish inspectors say the decree has no legal backing. In a statement, they expressed deep concern that the legislation violates fundamental constitutional principles like equality and territorial solidarity.
Meanwhile, they’re also worried about ERC’s proposal in Spain’s Congress to have Catalunya collect income tax directly. The proposal mentions transferring personnel, which has Spanish tax officials alarmed about losing staff to the Catalan agency.
The inspectors took particular aim at Economy Minister Alícia Romero. They called it alarming that she said Catalunya wants to progressively manage Spanish taxes and build a fully-fledged Catalan tax authority.
The association is now calling on other regions to challenge the financing deal in court. They also want Spain’s Finance Ministry to provide clear explanations and firm guarantees that the Spanish tax agency will remain active in Catalunya.
For their part, the Catalan government says the decree gives full autonomy to the Catalan tax agency on staffing matters. Romero described it as the first step towards implementing Catalunya’s singular financing model and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to self-governance.
The decree passed with support from PSC, ERC, the Comuns and CUP. Junts abstained despite being highly critical of how the new financing model is progressing. Both the government and opposition agree that Spain needs to change its laws before the new model can actually take effect.
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