Foment del Treball has brought to the attention of the formations that take part in the general elections the request that they incorporate into law an automatic system for an annual review of the state rate of the Personal Income Tax (IRPF) and the personal and family minimums "to prevent income that only increases nominally to offset inflation from bearing more real taxation".
This initiative forms part of the 729 proposals that the employers' association chaired by Josep Sánchez Llibre made public this Friday at a press conference, together with the organization's vice president, Mar Alarcón; the director of Studies, Salvador Guillermo, and the person responsible for Institutional Relations with the Cortes Generales, Toni Picó.
The document proposes that the state brackets of the IRPF and the personal and family minimums be reviewed by applying "the same percentage of annual general revaluation of contributory pensions", with the aim of recovering the purchasing power lost due to the lack of updating.
In addition to this block, Alarcón has outlined other tax proposals, including the elimination of the Wealth Tax and the taxes on large fortunes, as well as a reduction in Inheritance and Gift Tax.
The employers' association also advocates multi-year reviews of public spending and tax benefits, with results analysis and the elimination of inefficient spending, while maintaining investment that generates economic and social returns.
Infrastructure and financing for Catalunya
In the area of infrastructure, Foment calls for multi-year planning, technically mature projects and real capacity for execution, through an investment consortium between the State and the Generalitat, and an additional minimum joint contribution of 1,500 million euros per year, complementary to ordinary commitments, to narrow the investment deficit in Catalunya.
The amounts not executed, they claim, should be reprogrammed for pending actions with guaranteed funding and verifiable deadlines and, where appropriate, agree on the transfer of resources and management to the competent Catalan administrations—something they consider key in projects such as Rodalies, the Sagrera, the doubling of the R3, and the renovation of the Sants station.
They also underline the urgency of finalizing the schedule and processing for the expansion of the Barcelona - El Prat Airport and completing rail and road access, as well as the connections to the terminals of the ports of Barcelona and Tarragona.
Housing and energy policy
In terms of housing, the business organization sets as a priority a major State Pact, with the participation of town councils and the private sector, that establishes multi-year objectives and stable resources, guarantees continuity beyond political cycles, covers all modalities (free, affordable, protected and social, both for purchase and for rent) and includes the rehabilitation of the existing housing stock.
To increase the supply, they propose reviewing current regulations and analyzing in advance the impact of the new rules, with the aim of ruling out those that reduce supply, make access more difficult or push prices upward.
“Housing production requires predictable licenses, appropriate taxation and viable financing instruments,” they point out in the document, in which they advocate strengthening public-private collaboration, making use of resources from the ICO and the BEI, and reviewing the conditions for the reservation of 30% of protected housing in Barcelona.
In the energy field, the employers’ association is in favor of extending the operation of the nuclear power plants currently in operation and of recovering and boosting the capture, reuse and storage of CO2 as alternative or complementary tools in the decarbonization processes, among other aspects.
Labor market and absenteeism
Another block of the text focuses on the labor market. Foment calls for regulating the right to strike through an organic law that specifies how it is exercised, its limits and guarantees in accordance with the Constitution, and that recognizes that the collaborating mutuals have competence to issue medical discharges in all cases, strengthening their role in healthcare, rehabilitation and monitoring of sick leave.
After pointing out absenteeism as one of the main problems for companies, the employers’ association proposes eliminating the employer obligation to pay the benefit between days 4 and 15 of sick leave, exempting companies from contributing during periods of temporary incapacity due to common contingencies, and restoring dismissal for objective reasons due to absences from work, leaving out cases linked to disability.
Reform of Financing and Administrative Modernization
Regarding regional financing, the document argues that reform of the model must ensure adequacy of resources, transparency, ordinality, mutual responsibility, and greater autonomy, taking as reference the model and results of the Basque concert. It also proposes incorporating the cost of living into the calculation of adjusted population and publishing fiscal balances and investment with a territorialized approach.
Finally, Foment proposes measures to accelerate and simplify procedures of the public administration and includes specific sections on the application of AI and robotics to improving productivity, among other areas.