In June 2024, the research work promoted by Fundación Impuestos y Competitividad on “Tax reforms in response to the crisis” was completed.
The work ended with the publication of the book titled “Reacciones fiscales ante la crisis” (Fiscal response to the Crisis). The title in itself reflects the critical assessment made of the regulatory changes and novelties that have arisen in recent years in relation to the tax system, a system whose scope has even been “circumvented” by the legislator in order to include figures that are not meant to qualify as taxes, with the clear promotion of non-tax compulsory payments.
Fundación Impuestos y Competitividad now makes the full text of the book freely available to interested parties, the contents having been posted on this website and presented during a couple of sessions which were organised in 2024 and were open to the general public.
Without repeating what has already been said, it seems appropriate now to review the general structure of the book, which, with a total of 11 chapters, divides its analysis into five parts.
The first part, chapters I to III, looks at global tax models and the recent history of tax reforms in the case of Spain, and analyses the measures adopted at the European level on occasion of the latest crisis – linked to the war in Ukraine – with special attention to the impact and particular solutions in EU Member States concerning the implementation of EU Regulation 2022/1854.
Chapters III and IV make up the second part, whichdeals with the proliferation of non-tax compulsory payments and their connection with tax categories and the regulatory requirements and guarantees inherent in them.
The third part is dedicated to the particular study of the three figures incorporated into the Spanish system by virtue of Law 38/2022, namely, the temporary energy and bank taxes and the temporary solidarity tax on large fortunes. Chapters V to VII are dedicated to each of these items in turn.
Three other chapters make up the fourth part of the book concerning compliance of these new payments with the Spanish Constitution and EU law. This part addresses the many doubts that have arisen in this regard, which have not been clarified following the Constitutional Court judgments, resolving the initial appeals filed by some Autonomous Regions.
Chapter XI, which is a summary of the study as a whole, makes up the fifth part and sets out the general conclusions.
It goes without saying that the conceptual and practical interest of the issues analysed remains fully relevant today and is the subject of technical, jurisdictional and political debate. This will continue in the future despite the expressly temporary nature with which these figures were created, evidencing the relevance of the analysis undertaken by the Foundation to the understanding of the current tax system and non-tax compulsory payments, which the legislator has been articulating in recent years, marking a watershed going forward, the ultimate effects of which are difficult to predict.
We are confident that the book will prove useful to the different social partners with an interest in tax matters.
NOTE: In disseminating this work, we should recall the assistance received from several entities in terms of the project’s financing through the Collaboration Agreements signed with the Foundation. namely: FUNDACION AEB, CECA and REPSOL.