Treasury technicians demand an extraordinary job offer of 1,200 places this year for the AEAT

They ask that the workforce be reinforced, in accordance with the provisions of the Recovery Plan and the anti-fraud law

MADRID, 5 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The technicians of the Ministry of Finance (Gestha) demand an extraordinary public employment offer (OPE) of 1,200 places for all the bodies of the State Tax Administration Agency (AEAT), in order to cover the casualties that occur due to retirement and other circumstances and to be able to equate the workforce to the average of the European Union in 8 years' time.

The general secretary of Gestha, José María Mollinedo, explains, in statements to Europa Press, that to cover the casualties that occur due to retirement and to equate the workforce to the EU average in 8 years, as governed by the anti-fraud law , it is necessary to give the 'green light' to a public job offer for some 1,200 people this year, which would be extraordinary to the one that has already been approved by the Government.

Specifically, the Government recently approved the Public Employment Offer (OPE) for 2022, which includes 1,836 places to reinforce the staff of the Tax Agency, which represents an increase of 30%, with the aim of giving impetus to the fight against the fraud.

However, the Treasury technicians see this figure as "insufficient" if they want to comply, both with the provisions of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, and with the anti-fraud law.

Until March of this year, the Tax Agency had a total of 25,232 officials, to which are added some 1,274 employees. Comparing with the surrounding tax administrations, Spain would need, according to Gestha, between 15,000 and 17,500 new staff --including civil servants and labor personnel--.

"In the worst case, those 15,000 employees over 8 years would mean the approval of public job offers for 1,866 people each year, which would be in addition to the casualties that would occur due to retirement or other causes," explains Mollinedo in the interview.

As the General Secretary of Gestha recalls, the sixth additional provision of Law 11/2021, of July 9, on measures to prevent and combat tax fraud, dictates that in a period of eight years the staff ratio of the administrations taxes in relation to the number of taxpayers should be close to the European average.

But for Gestha, in accordance with the increase in retirements provided for in the AEAT over the next few years, the OEP 2022 will fail to comply with this provision, unless it approves an extraordinary Public Employment Offer, as was done for the Tax Administration in the years of the crisis in which the general replacement rate was 10%.

This apart from what is established in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, which stipulates an increase in the number of the Tax Agency in order to reach dimensions closer to those that have been customary throughout its history, in the which has almost always had more than 27,000 employees, reaching a maximum of around 28,000.

The staff of the Tax Agency has been reduced compared to that available before the economic crisis of 2008. This situation has occurred as a result of the combination of two factors: on the one hand, the high average age of the staff, with the consequent retirement scenario in the coming years, and, on the other, the difficulties for the incorporation of new troops after successive years with reduced public job offers.

For this reason, the priority objective of the Tax Agency, as provided for in its 2020-2023 strategic plan, is the progressive recovery of the number of employees it had before the impact of the economic crisis, including the commitment to "reinforce and rejuvenate" the workforce to face new challenges.

Mollinedo has warned that the officials who register for this last call for 2022 to the Tax Administration will be incorporated into the body between 2023 and 2024, since from the time the opposition is called, until the exercises are carried out and the training school is finished "time passes" that is not usually taken into account.

Besides, from Gestha they request the commitment of the Government that the places that are convened are covered. According to Mollinedo, in the free shift, there are vacant places because the examining courts think that those summoned "do not have sufficient level to pass."

"Sometimes there is an excess of zeal to ensure that whoever enters knows a lot," says the general secretary of Gestha, who is committed to oppositions not being based only on learning the laws and regulations by heart, but on "knowing how to apply it well" .