2023-12-28 10:56:14
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, took advantage of the last speech of the year to resort to anti-crisis measures, which the Council of Ministers decided to postpone until 2024. «This administration will never abandon its main mission of improving and protecting families through bold measures like the ones I’m about to describe,” he said Wednesday of the partial expansion of Social Security to combat inflation and the impact of the energy crisis. This is the eighth package promoted by the Executive Committee, which has so far raised more than 40 billion euros. However, support has seen some significant changes.
The Government has decided to increase from 5% to 10% the VAT rate applied to electricity throughout the year 2024. This is an increase that, in any case, is still far from the 21% it was before the energy crisis. The rest of the energy taxes will also be recovered gradually. The tax on gas will be 10% until spring, and then increase. Although in his speech the Executive indicated that said reduction would end in February, Moncloa has specified that the reduction will be in force in the first quarter of the year, so it would return to normal in April.
The Special Tax on Electricity (IEE), which until now remained at 0.5%, will rise until reaching normality in the second half of the year. From January to March it will be set at 2.5%, from April to June it will go to 3.8%, and subsequently it will reach the 5.1% at which it was set before the Government promoted the anti-crisis package. The Tax on the Value of Electrical Energy Production (IVPEE) will also rise gradually. Until March it will have a rate of 3.5%; then it will rise to 5.2% until June and subsequently reach 7% prior to the crisis.
In addition, the VAT reduction for basic foods will be maintained. Thus, as announced by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, essential foods such as milk, bread, eggs, cheese, legumes or vegetables will continue with a rate of 0% and others such as oil or pasta with a 5% rate. . Aid for public transport will continue as before, which means that Renfe Media Distancia and Cercanías will be free and that the State will subsidize 30% of the price of the rest of the services, to which we must add the 20% discount that assume autonomy.
Although the extraordinary taxes on banking and energy will be extended for one year, as of January 1, these companies will be allowed to deduct strategic investments related to the green transition and include a commitment to review in 2024 as a figure of character. permanent.
Beyond the fiscal measures, the suspension of evictions and evictions for vulnerable households will be extended, including those households affected by habitual residence eviction procedures, which do not arise from rental contracts, when there are dependent people, victims of violence on the woman or minors in charge. The expansion of measures related to the workplace, the impossibility of suspending basic supplies or the expansion of discounts corresponding to the Electric Social Bonus will also continue.
The limits applied to the growth of the last resort gas rate (TUR) are maintained, which prevent an increase in the cost of the raw material above 15%, limiting the quarterly increase to approximately 5%, as well as the existence of the Neighborhood TUR, which communities of owners with natural gas central heating can benefit from. Likewise, the maximum price that butane can reach will continue to be set at 19.55 euros per cylinder.
On the other hand, the president has announced the elimination of bank commissions or compensation for early repayment of loans at a variable rate, as well as commissions for cash withdrawals over the counter for the elderly or people with disabilities. Another of the great novelties is the transfer of the management of the Minimum Living Income (IMV) to the autonomous communities with a common regime that request it, something that already happens with the Basque Country and Navarra.
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