Reformas pendientes en el sistema fiscal español
Fecha: enero 2001
Autores: Manuel Lagares
Papeles de Economía Española, N.º 87 (2001)
The need for new taxation reforms in Spain is justified in the author's opinion, due to the changes taking place in the new policies of the Public Treasury, which are furnishing a strong push to efficiency as the basis for the orientation of said reforms, and due to the changes which have been taken place in the economic situation, especially those derived from the globalisation of the economy. Globalisation creates major problems within the tax sphere in regard to the distribution of the tax sovereignt between countries, due to the phenomena of de-localization which it originates and also in the end due to the questions raised in regard to a balanced handling of the results of the factors with different degrees of mobility on the international plane. Hence, the objectives to which a possible reforof the tax system should be directed: the maintenanceof the budget stability, the approximation to other fiscal systems in Europe, the reinforcement of the efficiency of the Spanish tax system in general and the reinforcement of its equity, although through routes other than the traditional ones.From these objectives, the outhor presents the lines along which he feels thereform of the Spanish taxation system should follow, which can be described as the continuity of the recentreforms on Income Tax, with an improvement in the handling of the lower incomes, the maintenance of a moderated unitary structure in the tax base, a greater neutrality in the handling of the financial goals and, in the end, a special protection for the income obtained from work, with a better fiscal handling of the pension funds. The refor of the Company Tax is considered, beginning with the need to maintain a tight relationship between the tax base and the accounting profits and by trying to improve the integration of this tax with the IRPF (Income Tax). The article ends with a description of the most important changes desired in relationwith the remaining taxes of the system and with several comments on the financing of the regional communities and the necessary reform of the municipal treasuries.