The Minister of the Treasury values the Government’s commitment to safeguarding public services and prioritizing “real spending” in the accounts
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Nov. 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Minister of Finance of the Government of the Canary Islands, Matilde Asián, defended this Thursday in a parliamentary committee the 2024 budget bill, which grows by 11% to 11,301 million, and guaranteeing that the electoral promise of lowering the IGIC from 7 % to 5% will be done “as soon as possible.”
Asián has defended that the accounts prioritize spending on public services and especially “real spending”, amid strong criticism from PSOE and NC-BC, who have called the document a “deception” for not including the promised tax reduction.
The counselor has insisted on the “institutional uncertainty” when preparing the budgets since the spending ceiling or deficit objectives are unknown and furthermore, the EU “is going to change the framework” after the European elections and the constitution of the new Commission in October. “We hope that they will become more flexible but we don’t know,” she said.
It has not hidden that the “effects” of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and now the Arab-Israeli conflict continue, with a “worrying” inflation and the forecast that the GDP before 2020 will not recover, at least until end of 2024.
He has warned of the “strong dependence” on transfers, has valued the strong increase in the budget in his Ministry, of almost 20% to cover the construction of the two service buildings and the improvement of IT support, and has blamed the decrease of funds in other departments, in the case of Agriculture, in which European funds are no longer counted.
Likewise, although he has acknowledged that the IGIC is not being lowered, he has defended that the Executive is beginning to take the first steps of its fiscal relief plan with the inheritance and donation tax bonus, the subsidy to lower fuel prices on the islands. greens’ or the selective reduction in some products such as diapers, mattresses, medical services or glasses.
On the contrary, the Government has decided to raise the IGIC on sugary drinks, vapes and electronic cigarettes for health reasons and to try to discourage consumption.
THERE: “PRUDENT AND ACHIEVABLE” BUDGETS
Raúl Acosta (AHI) has valued the courage of the Government for preparing “prudent and achievable” budgets in a context of lack of information from the Government in office and understands that it is up to the Executive to set “priorities and objectives.”
For this reason, he supports distributing the items based on “real spending” and has pointed out that the accounts allow basic public services to be safeguarded, are in line with improving social cohesion on the islands and help to boost the economy by promoting at least slightly the productive sectors.
In the specific case of El Hierro, it has assessed the increase in investments in line with the regional average and the tax credit to reduce the price of fuel in the ‘green islands’.
Melodie Mendoza (ASG) has said that the budget is “prudent, rigorous and serious”, that it has been prepared in the midst of state “instability”, without a spending ceiling or deficit target, and with a “possible cooling” of the economy also weighed down by the recovery of fiscal rules by the EU.
He highlighted the selective reductions in the IGIC and the increase in sugary drinks and vaping devices, as well as the bonus on the cost of fuel in the ‘green islands’, also highlighting the boost given to services, with more than 70% of the public spending.
He has valued the commitment to make a budget of “real expenditure” and has pointed out that the decrease in funds in some ministries is due to the loss of European funds.
VOX DOUBTS WHETHER THE SERVICES CAN BE FINANCED
Javier Nieto (Vox) has warned that the population is aging and each year more resources will be needed in Health and Social Welfare and he has asked “where the money is being taken from” to sustain the welfare state in the coming years. “If it is not turning into a pyramid scheme”, he has pointed out.
He has also warned that the average income is falling while taxes are rising and has raised whether instead of “raising items and items” they are studying whether the management is good. “I don’t see measures aimed at improving management, at providing the same or better service for the same amount,” she said.
He has denied that there is “bravery” in the design of the accounts because they do not detect the “major systemic problems that eat up resources” and has rejected that, in contrast to not lowering the IGIC, which was an electoral promise, it has also been raised in certain products. .
Esther González (NC-BC) has criticized the failure to comply with the CC and PP’s electoral promise to lower the IGIC and has shown her “surprise and astonishment” at an “anthology of nonsense” between the lack of correspondence between the Government’s speech and the budget design.
He has commented that not lowering the IGIC from 7% to 5% is a “massive deception and electoral fraud”, aggravated by the fact that the fiscal effort is increased, with an increase of 16.7% in the collection of the IGIC and more than 20 % of AIEM. “They fool very few people anymore,” she said.
He has called the Government “disoriented and without a road map”, he has criticized the increase in the IGIC on construction materials and he has criticized the increase of more than nine million in “sheds” for “friends.” “May God take us confessed,” she has summarized as an analysis of the regional budgets.
THE PP ASSUMES THAT THE PRICE OF NOT LOWERING THE IGIC IS PAID
Fernando Enseñat (PP) has warned of the “serious uncertainty” national and international in setting up the accounts in the face of the “negligence” of the acting Government and the “lack of responsibility” of the ‘Flower Pact’, which designed a budget with ” holes”, like the more than 500 million in healthcare.
He has said that the accounts are betting on public services and increased investment, and he has been “paying the price” of postponing the commitment to lower the IGIC.
Enseñat has insisted that the budgets are “prudent and realistic”, he has valued the bonus on the inheritance and donation tax, the personal income tax deductions and the fuel subsidy on the ‘green islands’.
The spokesperson for the Nationalist Group, José Miguel Barragán, has warned of the “uncertainty” of the political and international context and the lack of information from the Government in office, and understands that the budgets are “transit” because many communities have not dared to design them –only five of 17–.
He has highlighted the “prudence” of the regional accounts, which can improve by just over 200 additional million from the State, which would open the door to lowering the IGIC and continuing with the tax relief plan.
Barragán has said that the Government has four years to fulfill its electoral program, discrediting the PSOE who “are nice” for saying one thing and doing the opposite.
THE PSOE SEES THE GOVERNMENT “WITHOUT INITIATIVE AND SEE THEM COMING”
Manuel Hernández, of the Socialist Group, has criticized the “great deception” of the Government in not lowering the IGIC although they are “relieved” because they support public services and do not make “a break” to local corporations.
He has insisted on the “deliberate deception” of the Executive and the design of a “trap” budget that does not “offer solutions” to the problems of the islands as it puts the financial sustainability of the autonomous community at risk. “These are not the budgets that the Canary Islands need,” she added.
Hernández has criticized the Government’s “passivity in the struggle” in the face of rising prices and has said that it is “without initiative and seeing them coming, lacking ideas”, to the point that this budget is a “lost opportunity” to improve the life of the canaries.
