The councilor for Economy and Finance of the Government of Navarre, José Luis Arasti, has stated this Thursday that he expects that "in the next few hours" a pact between the budget partners can be concreted to move forward with the corresponding tax measures law for the 2027 financial year. However, he has not provided details about the content of the rule, which continues to be debated in the tax board in which the regional executive takes part together with PSN, EH Bildu, Geroa Bai and Contigo-Zurekin.
"Because of the respect I have for all the members of the board, we have to be cautious when announcing particular measures, especially if they have not yet been agreed," Arasti said, in response to a question from Geroa Bai in the Parliament of Navarre.
The head of Economy and Finance has stressed that the agreement "is very close to seeing the light." He has recalled that "the shared priorities among the formations that for many years we have been giving stability to the Government are well known, and they will be felt again in everything to do with fiscal matters." As he indicated, social spending absorbs more than half of the Government’s spending capacity and the new tax measures will continue that direction, taking into account "above all the reality in Navarre, the dynamics that prices are taking, which continue to rise, the problems of access to housing, or the commitment to the ecological transition."
Arasti has emphasized that "what is really important here is not what tax measures I think have to be implemented, but what tax measures we are capable of reaching a consensus on, as we have been doing in recent years, in this tax board." He has insisted that "our strength throughout all these legislative terms has precisely been the capacity to reach agreements, and that is where we are, and that is why I think we must be cautious in our announcements of tax measures."
For its part, the spokesperson for Geroa Bai, Pablo Azcona, has positively assessed the understanding reached to approve the General Budgets of Navarre for 2027, although he has reiterated that "there is another important part that we still have to finish negotiating, which is fiscal policy, and if the Budgets set the priorities, the tax measures must accompany those same priorities that we have agreed." "From Geroa Bai we want to place the focus especially on two issues that seem to us to be key, inflation and housing," he said.
On this line, he has pointed out that "the rise in prices continues to have very specific effects: food has gone up, energy has gone up, day-to-day expenses have gone up, and this increase in costs affects especially middle and low incomes and also many self-employed people and small businesses." "That is why, we see it as necessary to address the deflation of the IRPF rate, paying special attention to middle and low incomes. The aim is precisely to prevent that inflation from increasing the tax burden on those who have not really improved their economic capacity," he has stated.
With regard to housing, Azcona has argued that "we must use all the tools available to us at our disposal to make it easier for young people to access their first home."