First, the positive. The latest storms have left a trail of precipitation in a large part of Spain. It can be said that each drop of rain fell was equivalent to one euro. The countryside has made a spectacular turnaround throughout the center and the western slope. Taking a road trip between Madrid and Badajoz at this time, for example, means enjoying the countryside in all its splendor. The same cannot be said of the Mediterranean slope, where The problems of lack of water continue from Catalonia (its internal basins remain below minimum levels) to Malaga, passing through the Valencian Community, the Region of Murcia and the provinces of Almería and Granada. A large part of the reservoirs are almost full, while others, such as those in the Guadalquivir and Guadiana Basins, have improved substantially, something unthinkable just a couple of weeks ago. In short, I insist for city people, what has happened these days translates, a priori, into a rain of millions of euros and a significant increase in wealth in a large part of Spain.
And now the bad thing, because taxes have also rained. It was noted yesterday in these same pages: the average Spaniard already pays more than 50 percent of his salary to the Treasury; Our country is the one that has increased the fiscal pressure the most since 2019, coinciding precisely with the successive governments of Pedro Sánchez. With the data collected in the “Taxometer 2024” prepared by the Juan de Mariana Institute, on average EU Member States barely increased taxes between 2019 and 2022, except Spain, which has been the country with the greatest increase in fiscal pressure during that period. In case there was any doubt, the Institute of Economic Studies said yesterday that the tightening of corporate taxation in Spain slows down economic growth, after highlighting that tax collection in Spain has returned to historical record levels in 2023. And pay attention to the following statement : the tax pressure in our country will be around 39 and The fiscal effort is already 17.8 percent higher than that of the EU. These are data that make you tremble and, above all, make you reflect. It takes a lot of courage to invest, not to mention the lack of legal security.