Escrivá is "convinced" that the bank "will agree to help" through the new tax

MADRID, 22 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, trusts that the financial sector will agree with the new temporary tax on banks, announced by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, which will last for two years and It will seek to raise a total of 3,000 million.

"In such a difficult situation for family incomes, there are sectors of the economy, such as banking or energy, that are having extraordinarily high business results. It makes perfect sense (the tax). I am convinced that they are going to agree to help and bring income so that this shield of protection for those who are being most affected can be properly deployed", Escrivá said in an interview in 'Espejo Público', collected by Europa Press.

Although the minister has recalled that this issue is the responsibility of the First Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs, Nadia Calviño, and the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, he wanted to make a "structural reflection" on the tax.

Escrivá explained that the Spanish financial system "is fiscally undertaxed compared to other economic activities" and recalled that while bank transactions are not taxed, an insurance policy is directly taxed.

"In countries around us, such as France or the Scandinavian countries, there are specific taxes, in addition to Corporate Tax, for banking activities so that they are a 'proxy' of this under-taxation of indirect taxes", said the minister.

For Escrivá, this future bank tax will mean an "extraordinary revenue boost" to compensate for "this increase in expenses that the situation of rising inflation and the energy crisis entails."

He also trusts that this tax, still to be defined, will not have repercussions on the consumer, since "the dynamics of the market, with a lot of banking competition among them, means that this does not have a translation."

The Government plans to hold a meeting this Friday with representatives of the banking sector in which, among other issues, the new temporary tax on the sector will be discussed.

Asked about the half-point rise in interest rates announced this Thursday by the European Central Bank (ECB), the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration clarified that although it is "the highest rise in 22 years" there is also to keep in mind that rates "have been at extraordinarily low levels, even negative, for several years".

The ECB raised interest rates by 50 basis points, so that the interest rate for its financing operations will be 0.50%, while the deposit rate will reach 0% and the loan facility rate, 0.75%.

"A normalization of interest rates is something that had to happen sooner or later. It has happened before because we are in a complex inflationary situation and what the ECB does is normalize its monetary policy gradually and progressively, you have to see it from that point of view", explained Escrivá.

The minister has ruled out that the rate hike will have a negative impact on companies, since their financing costs "remain extraordinarily low if you look at the historical perspective".

Likewise, it also removes the possibility that it will affect the labor market, which continues to show a "very dynamic" rhythm and "good data", with an increase in enrollment of 300,000 workers during the first seven months of the year.

"Companies are considering that the episode of turbulence that we are experiencing in inflation and the raw materials market is transitory and they are not readjusting their expansion plans in the medium term," Escrivá stressed.