The Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), the national employers’ association chaired by Antonio Garamendi, will go hand in hand with Foment del Treball, the Catalan organization led by Josep Sánchez Llibre, in the pressure strategy to obtain sufficient parliamentary support to lead to the Constitutional Court the new tax on large fortunes that the Government will foreseeably approve definitively before the end of the year, for its entry into force in 2023.
This is confirmed by sources from the CEOE to La Información, after learning of Foment’s intention to promote this unconstitutionality appeal for the tax on the rich. From the national confederation they assure that, despite the differences that have marked the relationship between the two organizations in recent months, which culminated in the re-election of Garamendi for another four years in office, CEOE and Foment will make a “common front”, because they share “the essence of the claim”.
Not in vain, from the CEOE they have been promoting this resource in the shadows for some time. Since the process of amendments to the bill that articulates the new taxes on banks, energy and large fortunes began, the confederation has been promoting their modulation or suppression, depending on the cases, through different parliamentary groups . “The lobbying work has been done from minute one, the process is launched,” insisted sources from the employer’s leadership, adding that they are currently awaiting how the process ends, once the Senate has rejected the two vetoes and the 72 amendments presented by the groups.
Sánchez Llibre formally announced last Wednesday that the Catalan employers’ association is seeking the support of the parliamentary groups with representation in the Congress of Deputies to be able to challenge the new tax before the high court. The movement was interpreted as an attempt by Foment to “advance Garamendi on the right” in this initiative, but the official sources of the CEOE downplay this maneuver by the Catalan and insist that the confederation was already “in that line”. from the beginning of the parliamentary processing of the tax.
Foment has already commissioned a report from the RocaJunyent law firm that is based on three “clear vices” of unconstitutionality, according to the lawyer and advisor to the employer Manuel José Silva Sánchez. The argument is based on the fact that it violates the fiscal autonomy of the autonomous communities, because it overlaps with the autonomous heritage tax, as well as the principle of legal certainty, since it is expected to apply on December 31, when it will be approved just a few days before , with no room for reaction, and the principle of economic capacity of taxpayers, because the so-called “solidarity tax” is, in his opinion, a “confiscatory” tax.
In the CEOE they generally share the three points of the argument, say the sources consulted within the employers’ association, although they are more prudent than Foment in terms of formally announcing that they will promote the unconstitutionality appeal. “You have to wait for the parliamentary process to finish and it is finally approved,” they insist. From that moment on, this common front will be formed to combat the tax, based on the forecasts that will be handled by the legal teams of both associated business organizations.
What is foreseeable is that both the CEOE and Foment del Treball seek the support of the Popular Party to make available the necessary deputies to be able to appeal before the Constitutional Court, as already happened in 2021 with the Wealth Tax. Although both organizations affirm that there have not yet been prior contacts with the PP parliamentary group, pending the final approval of the new regulations (predictably in the plenary session of the Senate to be held on Thursday 22, if it does not have to return to congress).
In Foment, this support from CEOE is taken for granted to unite support from parliament and autonomous communities, such as Madrid or Andalusia, which have already advanced that they will appeal the tax before the TC. The Catalan organization will make its legal report available to the CEOE, political parties and individuals who request it, with the aim of “seeking maximum complicity” and fighting in court with all possible arguments, as I advance silva in a press conference.
In this way, CEOE and Foment put aside their differences for a common interest. After Sánchez Llibre promoted an alternative candidacy to Garamendi, headed by the vice president of the Catalan employers’ association, Virginia Guinda, the re-elected Basque businessman is going to bet on a conciliatory and inclusive management and not on passing accounts from the opposition flank, anteganizde equipo más close The meeting of the Board of Directors next Wednesday, in which Garamendi will communicate the new composition, will be key to making decisions on this and other matters.
