MADRID, 28 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Association of State Treasury Inspectors (IHE) has warned that the transfer of 100% of taxes to Catalonia, as proposed by the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, would also affect customs control, with special attention to repression. of drug trafficking, among other things, in addition to other problems derived from tax fraud.
This is clear from the conclusions of the report presented this week by the Association of Treasury Inspectors on the consequences of the fiscal independence of Catalonia, with the idea that Aragonès has proposed of the transfer of one hundred percent of taxes and establishing a quota contribution to the State, as is already the case in the Basque Country and Navarra.
In addition to denouncing that it is “unconstitutional” and their repeated warnings that this would mean the disappearance of the Tax Agency in Catalonia, the Treasury Inspectors also warn that this ‘Catalan quota’ would have repercussions on tax fraud.
In this context, the report talks about the problems in customs and smuggling control plans, recalling that the Tax Agency “has been paying special attention to the repression of drug trafficking, as well as the evolution of tobacco smuggling in general: ” “The most relevant results of these plans could hardly be achieved in an independent tax administration of Catalonia.”
The Catalan Government’s proposal would also affect the fight against VAT schemes, according to this report from the Treasury Inspectors. “The results obtained in recent years are a consequence of long investigations, in which the different Inspection teams throughout the national territory intervene, with the National Fraud Investigation Office acting as the coordinating body. These plans could not be carried out in Catalonia if the Tax Agency is divided,” they warn.
It would also imply problems in the fight against organized fraud, given that “the most complex and sophisticated tax fraud spreads across the most diverse territories, frequently using companies domiciled in different Autonomous Communities.” “Fragmenting the available information is equivalent in practice to not being able to combat the most serious frauds in an adequate time,” they add.
Another of the problems identified by the Treasury inspectors in their report regarding this ‘Catalan quota’ also has to do with the relocation of companies if the management of consumption taxes is divided up.
“Any difference in the management of these taxes, including the actions of the Inspection, would represent an obstacle to the free circulation of goods and an incentive for situations of company relocation to occur,” they point out.
However, they also point to “many problems” in the case of the transfer of the Inspection of the taxes borne in Catalonia, especially in taxpayers with a medium or large size, to the extent that they carry out operations throughout the Spanish territory, or even internationally.
“The problem worsens when we refer to the control of multinational companies, since the exploitation of information and control actions must be carried out on a national basis,” they add.
