Spain Considers Catalan Compensation Tax

 

During a meeting in the Lower House of Parliament, PM Mariano Rajoy announced that the Government's planned Bank Deposit Tax is to be approved in 2014, as a state tax to be allocated to the regional Governments.

The Prime Minister confirmed that the levy will be imposed on the global bank deposit totals, rather than on individual assets, thereby – in theory – affecting banking institutions and not bank customers. Spain's Finance Minister Montoro has previously indicated that the tax might be levied at a rate varying between 0.03 - 0.05%, although certainly not much higher than 0%.

Finally, Rajoy explained that the Government is currently considering whether or not to compensate the Catalan Government , for blocking its plans to apply a regional tax on financial institutions this year. In contrast, the Spanish Government has already provided financial compensation to Andalusia, Extremadura, and the Canary Islands for cancelling their regional bank deposit taxes.