Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (EFE).- The president of the National Federation of Self-Employed Workers Associations (ATA) and vice president of the CEOE, Lorenzo Amor, stated this Wednesday that the transfer of the headquarters of the Spanish multinational Ferrovial to the Netherlands “It is not a casual thing” and should be a reason for reflection.
In statements to journalists, Amor has stated that “a company owes itself to its shareholders and presents accounts to them, but when it pays double the tax in Spain than in the United States, billing twice as much in the second country compared to the first, No matter how supportive and patriotic you are, you have to give an account to the shareholders”.
The vice president of the CEOE has indicated: “This should lead us to reflect on the level of tax pressure, legal uncertainty and labor costs in Spain.”
He has warned of the relocation that is taking place in Spain, where there are small companies that move to Portugal, freelancers that register in Estonia and multinationals that go to the Netherlands”.
In Amor’s opinion, it is “outrageous” that with the increase in expenses suffered by the self-employed and companies in Spain, a 15 percent tax withholding is still applied on invoices on gross income and that on Corporation Tax payments on account are so high.
He stressed that to help the self-employed, the first thing to do is lower professional withholdings to 10% and also reduce payments on account by five points, because they are acting as “financial for the State, since money is financed that they will have to pay them back in a year and a half; the situation is not for that”.
The business leader has indicated that the withholding of workers has been lowered but regretted that 3 million citizens, the self-employed, and companies have been forgotten.
On the other hand, he commented, regarding the situation of the self-employed and companies, that “things are not looking as good as expected”, since it was pointed out that inflation was going to stop rising in 2023 but “we have been two consecutive months with rising inflation and the underlying soaring with rates not known in forty years”.
In the month of January, the trade data was “terrible”, with a fall of 9%, and those for affiliation to Social Security were not good either, although we will have to wait to see those for February, he indicated.
According to Amor, the rise in inflation in February does not reflect anything other than the situation that companies and the self-employed are suffering in Spain, because this rise in prices is due to the fact that “the vast majority of self-employed workers and companies are riddled with expenses; Fiscal, financial, labor, rental and mortgage, production costs are increasing, raw materials and energy, fuel are rising…”
One in five self-employed or companies in Spain knows that they are going to have more income expenses and that is why prices rise, not to have benefits but to be able to endure the activity, Amor has remarked, which has stressed that it is the first time, since 2012, which ends a year, 2022, with fewer self-employed workers and companies.EFE
