Catalan Government’s budget for 2016 to include €700 million more for social spending

Barcelona (CNA).- The Catalan Government has presented its budget proposal for 2016 and €700 million more will be allocated for social spending than in the budget of 2015, stated Catalan Vice President and Minister for Economy Oriol Junqueras on Monday. The head of Economy also disclosed that the Health sector will see an increase of €317 million, while the Education budget will increase by €211 million and that of Social Services will grow by €173 million. This is the first time in many years that the amount allocated to this budget has been expanded; in 2015, the three items in question already accounted for €15.04 billion, representing 71.2% of the overall budget. Additionally, Junqueras has affirmed that €50 million more is to be allocated to the sectors of Universities and Research. The budget, which is to be delivered to Parliament’s President Carme Forcadell, should be “realistic” and avoid “generating expectations that cannot be satisfied”, according to Junqueras.

The Catalan Government’s Budget for 2016 will include 700 million euros more than that of the previous year, to be allocated to social spending, Catalan Vice President and Minister for Economy Oriol Junqueras announced Monday. In an interview with Catalan radio station RAC-1, the head of Economy said that the Health sector budget will increase by 317 million euros, that of Education by €211 million and that of Social Services by €173 million. It will be the first time in many years that these items have been expanded, as the previous year it was done only to cover the extra pay of public employees and some accounting changes. Last year, the three previously mentioned items accounted for €15.04 billion, representing 71.2% of the overall budget. Junqueras also announced that the bill to be approved on Tuesday by the Governing Council will have 50 million more euros than in 2015 allocated to Universities and Research. The ultimate objective is to create a “realistic budget that does not generate expectations that cannot be satisfied”.

The budget proposal for 2016 will be “expansive” after years of cuts, and social spending will grow in absolute numbers, as well as doing so in terms of percentage of the total budget, explained Junqueras. 

This Tuesday, the Catalan Government will approve the accounts and Junqueras will deliver the USB stick with the document to the President of Parliament, Carme Forcadell. Then, a parliamentary process will start that will conclude in July, perhaps running until August or September (if any group presents an appeal to the Council for Statutory Guarantees of Catalonia - for which the executive has not yet secured an absolute majority). The Minister of Economy is convinced that the project drawn up in his department makes a “very good budget” possible, and noted that the pro-independence radical left party CUP are the “preferred partner” to carry them out. In any case, he doesn’t exclude the possibility of including another party to achieve “the broadest possible consensus”.

The IRPF regional income tax will not be touched

After several suggestions that Junqueras aimed to turn the IRPF income tax into a more progressive type of taxation, there won’t in the end be any significant tax changes in either the draft budget law nor in the law of tax and financial measures that will accompany it. That is, neither the IRPF regional income tax, nor the Wealth or Inheritance tax will be touched, which are the main three taxes over which the Catalan Government has regulatory power.