The recent government pact sealed between PSOE y summer for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez has not stopped flying over the CaixaBank press conference in Valencia this Friday, on the occasion of the presentation of the results obtained from January to September of this year. These are summarized in one piece of information: the entity earns 3,659 million euros, 48.2% more than last year thanks in part to the rise in interest rates. And yet, in the opinion of his CEO, Gonzalo Gortazarthese figures are still far from being “extraordinary” benefits, which is why he has warned against the fiscal policy of the current Government that is reflected again in that investiture agreement.
“If we penalize large companies we are shooting ourselves in the foot” as a country, he said bluntly. This statement, which adds to the drip of criticism in the last week from economic agents, was made precisely by Gortázar in response to a question about the threat of Repsol. The manager has avoided commenting directly on the energy company’s announcement, which has questioned the continuity of all its projects in Spain due to the lack of legal certainty. But he has been clear when it comes to regretting that the policy of Pedro Sánchez’s Executive has energy companies or banks in its sights.
And even more so now that the government partners have expressed their intention to extend the taxes on energy companies and banks that were initially sold as temporary. The acting Minister of Finance herself, Maria Jesus Monterosaid this week that “they have had no impact” on the companies’ profits, while for the public coffers this year it has meant an income of 2.9 billion euros.
However, Gortázar has linked the size of companies to productivity: the larger the company and the greater the number of workers, the greater its productivity. “We cannot negatively discriminate against large companies for being largebecause there will be fewer incentives for them to grow when it is productivity that will make the country richer.” In fact, the same productivity argument has served to question the extent of the reduction of the working day to 37, 5 hours per week. If productivity is not improved in another way “and we work less, we will earn less as a country.”
In the case of banking, has charged again for “discriminatory” against the tax, which for CaixaBank has meant 373 million euros. Added to the 1,635 million for corporate tax and 85 for deposit tax, they make a total of 2,093 million in taxes accrued. That is, an effective rate “no less than 36%”, higher than the 25% implied by the type of companies, as Gortázar has stressed on several occasions.