Spanish budget allocates almost €2bn to Catalonia

The draft budget presented by the Spanish government on Tuesday includes an allocation of €1.9993 billion for Catalonia. This marks 16.5% of the total decentralized investment in the budget, a lower figure than the 19% that is Catalonia's contribution to Spain's GDP.

In terms of European funds, Catalonia will receive €596 million, 14.35% of the state total: €371 million for environmental policy and €225 million for housing.

The Spanish government presented the draft budget on Tuesday. It includes tax rises for the highest earners and an increase in corporation tax.

Jointly unveiled by Spanish president Pedro Sánchez and second vice president Pablo Iglesias, the budget contains a record level of public investment of almost €239.8 billion, 10.3% more than this year.

The minority governing coalition of Sánchez's Socialist Party and Iglesias' Unidas Podemos will need to seek some support among opposition parties in Congress in order for the budget to pass.

The draft budget includes an increase in corporation tax that limits exemptions for subsidiaries and a 1 point increase in wealth tax for assets of more than €10 million. There is a 3 point increase on personal income tax on capital income above €200,000, and a 2 point increase on personal income tax for income from work above €300,000.

It also sees more taxes on diesel, meaning an average monthly increase of €3.45 per person.

On Wednesday, Ciudadanos (Cs) claimed that the government had agreed to remove this from the budget as a "precondition" to negotiations with them, but this was denied by Spain's finance minister María Jesús Monteros who said that she neither her, nor her department, nor the negotiating committee had "had this contact with Cs."