Posted on 08/22/2025 8:24:45 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Catalonia gets almost everything, except independence.
Catalan secessionists are extracting so many concessions from the Spanish government that soon there will be no need to strive for independence. Their latest victory came last month—a tentative agreement from Spain’s Socialist-led government to allow the wealthy northeastern region, also controlled by a Socialist administration, to collect its own personal income tax. Fiscal autonomy has always been one of the separatists’ key goals; if this deal becomes reality, they will be considerably closer to achieving it.
The new financing agreement shows the extent to which a small group of separatists now dominates Spanish politics. Both Spain’s Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and Catalonia’s Socialist president, Salvador Illa, were elevated to office with support from two pro-independence Catalan parties, the leftist ERC and center-right Junts per Catalunya. The new taxation model was one of the conditions demanded by the ERC in exchange for supporting Illa’s investiture last year. Sánchez has also paid a high price for separatist support, on which his minority coalition depends to pass legislation. But for the Catalans, these victories are merely steps toward their ultimate goal, which has so far proved elusive: a binding independence referendum.
There were mixed reactions to the new finance model. Catalonia’s minister of the presidency, Albert Damau, hailed it as a “paradigm shift… aimed at improving public services in our country.” Spain’s minister for territorial integrity, Ángel Torres, said it was designed to “take into account the distinct features of each region”; oddly, he also said it catered to the “unique characteristics and needs of Catalonia.” The financing arrangement, it seems, is both bespoke and widely applicable—which makes one wonder whether it has any real substance. “We don’t buy it,” said a Conservative minister: “This is an attempt to conceal what they’re really...
(Excerpt) Read more at fee.org ...
So now people and businesses will move out of Catalunya to lower tax places?
That will hurt the province, but consolidate the Socialists’ control, so I guess it’s a win for them.
How do you say “Quebec” in Catalan?
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