2023-06-09 20:00:52
The First Vice President of the Spanish Government, Nadia Calvinoassured today in New York that the Executive intends to maintain the VAT reduction in the price of food beyond June 30, although it conditioned it to maintain the current price level. In this way, he reconsiders what he had defended just a few days ago, after publicly stating that the aid put into effect to deal with the energy crisis “should be gradually withdrawn”, because “the European Commission has requested its progressive withdrawal and as soon as possible, an opinion shared by other supervisory bodies”. For this reason, Calviño insisted that the end of these energy discounts would already be justified by the high levels of storage and by the adjustment in energy market prices, with a “much more comfortable” situation than in 2022. However, now it has opened the door to an extension of a good part of the anti-crisis plan.
Calviño, who made these statements after receiving an award from the Foreign Policy Association, was pleased that energy prices have recovered to pre-pandemic levels, but warned that the Government “will analyze all the measures to see which ones make sense to continue applying”. However, he wanted to make clear his position on the lowering of VAT on food, which had caused certain discrepancies with the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, who argued that this measure should be extended until the end of the year. In this line, the economic vice president maintained that “it will continue as long as we do not have an adequate price level in this area, given the influence of these prices on the pockets of Spanish families”, in addition to recognizing that food prices ” They constitute, without a doubt, the most important challenge that we have at this time in our country”, both because of what they mean for the inflation figures and because of the “pressure” that Spanish families suffer because of them.
Between the discounts, aid and sales that end on June 30 In addition to the VAT on basic foods, there is a reduction in the price of passes and multi-trip tickets for public transport; the discount of 20 cents per liter on fuel for the professional transport and fishing sector together with aid to the autonomous communities and town halls for gasoline for public buses-; the VAT reduction of the electricity bill from 10% to 5% on a contracted power of up to 10 kilowatts; VAT applied to natural gas from 21% to 5%; the temporary suspension of the tax on the value of the production of electrical energy; the reduction of 80% of tolls in the electro-intensive industry; or the limitation to the maximum price in the butane gas bottle.
He discount on fuel or the price of butanealthough they have “little travel”, the proximity of the electoral appointment could encourage its extension until after 23J, as well as the measures that have to do with the electricity and gas market, which must be “reconsidered” as prices have stabilized in the international market, ministerial sources confirmed. Others are living their last days, especially those that are directly related to the pandemic. Such is the case of the VAT reduction to 4% for masks and to 0% for goods and benefits to combat the covid or the procedures that allow public buyers to purchase supplies and services in the shortest possible time. Those referring to the anti-eviction decree or the impossibility of laying off companies that have benefited from aid are more likely to be extended.
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