The secretary general believes that the economy must be “cooled down” and criticizes the fact that there are “richer administrations and poorer citizens”
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 10 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The secretary general of the Canarian Coalition (CC), Fernando Clavijo, affirms that the central and regional governments “are not preparing” to face a “very complicated” autumn and winter, which is why he urges lower taxes and contain public spending.
In an interview granted to Europa Press, he pointed out that his party is “proactive” and is going to support all measures that have “common sense”, which for its formation goes through “cooling the economy” through a reduction in taxes and the spending containment to deal with the energy crisis and inflation.
Thus, it indicates that with the latest rise in interest rates, for example, families “are having a hard time” and therefore it is not possible to continue with “richer administrations and poorer citizens”, especially when in the case of the community Autonomous there is “margin” to make a tax reduction.
Clavijo points out that in 2022 taxes should have been lowered “and as winter ventures”, by 2023 it is a necessity, especially indirect ones such as the IGIC because “the rich and the poor pay them”.
In his opinion, purchasing power is being subtracted from citizens because the Government’s collection grows more than 15% and inflation will end the year at 8%, with salaries that “if they are revised”, will be around 2%, and there are groups who “can’t make ends meet”, for example pensioners.
“The Canary Islands have room to temporarily assume a tax cut, it is not a cut forever, it can be done,” he indicates, among other things because last year “the Government had more than 600 million left over” and the community does not have a problem of liquidity.
The nationalist leader, who warns that there are indicators that “put at risk” the execution of European funds, maintains that the Government could also resort to borrowing “to overcome this pothole and that the engine of the economy does not stop, but not even It would have to come to this.”
Clavijo criticizes that an “ideological application” of economic policy is made when it has to prioritize that “economic decisions are correct”, something that was not done, for example, in the time of Zapatero’s government, which caused “destruction” .
“Everyone knows what needs to be done but they don’t want to do it and they are making the problem worse by not having an electoral cost and that is the mistake,” he points out, stressing that in the Canary Islands more social measures are needed to ” offset” the rise in prices.
TOURIST PROBLEMS IF THERE IS A CRISIS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND GERMANY
Regarding the international situation, he believes that “everything will depend on what Russia wants to do” and if he cuts off the gas supply, especially to Germany, he will “put a lot of pressure” on the European Union to allow him to complete his plans in Ukraine.
Along these lines, he indicates that in Russia, living in a “semi-dictatorship”, Putin has no social response, unlike what happens in democratic countries where electoral periods are also approaching and many governments “are going to be afraid of facing wear socially and politically important.
In his opinion, “if Germany begins to have economic problems, the tourism that comes may suffer, in the United Kingdom they already have a severe problem, there will be fewer Britons who want to come and it may affect us directly in high season, which will generate difficulties in employment and in all aspects”.
NO TO ECOTAX
In this context of lower taxes, Clavijo closes the door to the imposition of a tourist tax on the islands, as requested by Sí Podemos, one of the formations of the government pact.
He believes that “it endangers the goose that lays the golden eggs” of the Canarian economy and that it is not good to “experiment” apart from the fact that he considers it “ridiculous” that nine months before regional elections “a member of the pact who has been three years and a bit without opening my mouth, now write an article” –in reference to the Minister of Social Rights, Noemí Santana.
“Hello, where have you been these three and a half years, did you wake up now and realize that you rule?” He asks.
