Supersánchez against Dr. Feijóo

MadridIn the congress that enthroned Alberto Núñez Feijóo as leader of the PP, it became clear that what united all the sensibilities of the party, from the most conservative and pragmatic sectors to the most ultra-liberal, was the banner of tax cuts. They have practically no other. And even here there are nuances, because Isabel Díaz Ayuso is critical of the tax on electricity companies sponsored by the European Commission and which her party defends. Feijóo himself has not given the order that all the autonomous communities abolish the property tax, but has left autonomy to his baron for them to decide which tax cuts they want to implement.

The problem with wealth tax is that it is a tax paid only by the wealthiest minority. It is not a reduction in personal income tax or VAT that benefits a majority. And this has given the left the opportunity to come out in a storm to point out that the tax policy of the PP benefits the most privileged and harms the rest, who see how public resources decrease. “Which interests are they defending?” asked the spokeswoman for the executive, Isabel Rodríguez, rhetorically. In Moncloa they are convinced that they can win the battle of taxation in the face of public opinion, and in the coming days we will see how they push this argument to the extreme. They believe that the pandemic has shown the importance of having good public services. The PP, on the other hand, considers that the rise in prices is the ideal context to take out its flag of tax reductions.

For his part, Moreno Bonilla’s resort to talking about “Catalan entrepreneurs” also shows that he is aware of the difficulties of selling this measure in the autonomous community with the highest unemployment in Spain (18.7%) and one of those it has less income per capita (17,750 euros). That is why he has been forced to include a few doses of Catalanophobia (another pillar that unites the PP) to try to divert attention from tax benefits to the rich and turn it into a measure to attract Catalan investors. In any case, it shows that Ayusism continues to set the pace for the PP and that Feijóo has decided to ride the wave in the hope that it will leave him at the door of Moncloa.

Moreno’s measure shows that Ayusism continues to set the stage for the PP

In his favor he has the decline of Vox, increasingly blurred and falling in the polls. And also has the fear of baron socialists who, like Emiliano García-Page, are running to distance themselves from Sánchez because they believe that the pacts with Unides Podemos and the pro-independence parties will end up taking their toll on them too. For now Moncloa has chosen to ignore him, but the procession goes inside.

Against Feijóo’s strategy there is only one relevant factor: time. Sánchez is confident that the PP will not be able to maintain the current pressure for more than a year, and that it will end up weakening. The Spanish president, meanwhile, combines photos with anonymous citizens with major events such as the UN General Assembly, where he sponsors an initiative to end world hunger. For the PSOE it is Supersánchez against Doctor Feijóo, a superhero close to the people against the evil defender of the rich and the electricity companies.