SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE Nov. 11 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Socialist Parliamentary Group has submitted an amendment to the entire Budget of the Autonomous Community for 2025 this Monday and has urged the Government of the Canary Islands to withdraw the Bill, arguing that it is “incapable of rectifying the 2024 Budget and, in numerous areas, exacerbates it, perpetuating the significant failures and erroneous choices made for Fiscal Year 2024, both in terms of spending priorities and taxation policies. Such decisions ensure that vital sectors that have lost crucial financial resources are unlikely to regain their lost ground with this Bill.”
The Treasury spokesperson for the Socialist Group, Manuel Hernández, reminded us that this “disastrous” Budget has been corroborated even by the majority of the advisors of the Canary Islands Government during their testimonies before the Budget Commission, wherein they expressed dissatisfaction with the resources allocated to their respective areas. “We are confronted with dire budgets that disregard the socioeconomic realities within which they are developed, as well as the community’s needs that arise from the severe dysfunctions of our developmental model,” he remarked.
Hernández asserted that “the weariness among citizens has often been exacerbated by the policies of the current Government of the Canary Islands, which have aimed at undermining public services, intensifying the inequalities within our region, and regressing in the fight against climate change while legislating via Decree Law to benefit the affluent classes of the Archipelago; in other instances, this is due to a lack of effective governmental response to combat these challenges.”
The socialist deputy expressed that this Bill “validates the concerns of the Socialist Parliamentary Group regarding the apparent lack of genuine intent by the current Government of the Canary Islands to heed the voice of Canarian society, to adopt courageous yet thorough measures that address social and labour challenges, and to implement policies aimed at alleviating the widening economic inequality facing the islanders.”
ALTERNATIVE BUDGET
Hence, in order to address one of the principal demands of the citizens of the Canary Islands, the Socialist Group has included a dedicated section on housing, which highlights the repercussions of both the actions and inactions of the Canary Islands Executive and the supporting groups, putting forth a proposal to establish a regulatory framework that fosters greater accessibility in housing.
On the subject of fiscal policy executed by the Canarian Government, Hernández indicates that it is not merely “erratic,” but often “incorrect and regressive,” and thus, the Socialist Group advocates for the retention of enhancements to personal income tax deductions introduced in 2023 for middle- and low-income earners, as well as exempting all school sports from IGIC.
Additionally, there are provisions that would see increases in the alternative budget proposed by the Socialist Group, stemming from the reallocation of expenditures and the generation of new income via the establishment of a tourist stays tax, modification of the inheritance and gift tax, alongside the removal of personal income tax deductions that disproportionately benefit higher earners.
In this regard, allocations would amount to 95 million euros for education, focusing on the enhancement of educational infrastructure and advancing the implementation of Education from 0 to 3 years; 20 million for university funding; two million for university scholarships; 40 million for R&D&I and 25 million for economic diversification.
Furthermore, an additional 50 million euros would be dedicated to housing development; ten million for rental assistance; five million for young people’s rental support; ten million to promote employment; five million for Culture; 25 million for Social Welfare and Dependency; 20 million for health infrastructure and equipment; 20 million for supportive policies for the primary sector; six million for water management; 6 million euros for bolstering security and emergency infrastructure; and 45 million for the Fight against Climate Change and Conservation of the Natural Environment and Biodiversity.
“In light of the present cowardice and stagnation, the Canarian Socialist Parliamentary Group presents this amendment in its entirety, illustrating that an alternative governance approach is feasible and that different budgetary priorities are essential to rectify the profound inequalities within the islands while fostering conditions to diversify our productive fabric and redistribute the wealth generated by the tourism sector,” Hernández concluded.
