The Government is left alone after the frontal rejection of parties and self-employed workers to the increase in quotas that it is preparing

The Government’s proposal to increase self-employed fees between 11 and 206 euros per month starting next year has self-employed workers up in arms and has generated the majority rejection of the parliamentary arc. In fact, it does not even generate consensus within the Government itself. Regular partners of the Executive such as Junts or ERC and opposition parties such as the PP and Vox have already positioned themselves against a measure, which Sumar does not like either. This point is key because, for the new quotas to see the light, They have to first go through the Congress of Deputies, where there is not a sufficient majority to support them.

The parliamentary spokesperson for Junts, Míriam Nogueras, has stated that “not a single vote” that her training receives will “put more pressure” on the self-employed. Oriol Junqueras, president of ERC, has spoken along similar lines, pointing out that the self-employed “do not deserve to live strangled.” In Add several of its spokespersons They have described the proposal as a “mistake” that harms workers who earn the least, according to Europa Press.

From the coalition partner they criticize that the socialists resist the rentiers paying taxes and want to talk about income from work. “It is not normal for a hairdresser to pay more taxes for what she earns from her small business than the same hairdresser if she has three rented apartments in Benicasim,” criticizes her housing spokesperson, Alberto Ibáñez. For her part, the group’s spokesperson in Congress, Verónica Martínez Barbero, considers that the initiative is “not very progressive” and represents a “disincentive” for new self-employed workers.

“The Government does not find partners to approve Budgets or to approve laws, but, When in doubt, the solution is to raise taxes. Today it was the turn of the self-employed,” said Juan Bravo, deputy secretary of the Treasury for the PP. Vox has accused the PSOE of wanting to “squeeze the Spaniards even more.”

A blow to the flat rate

The proposal designed by Elma Saiz’s ministry would also affect workers who enjoy the reduced flat rate of 80 euros per month. The document that Social Security presented to the social agents on Monday and to which it has had access Economic Informationproposes linking the amount of the flat rate to the lowest fee of the 15 sections that make up the contribution system for the self-employed after its reform. The reason given by the Ministry for raising the flat rate is to link it to the evolution of economic activity.

The idea pursued by the Government is that the flat rate is equivalent to 40% of the fee paid by the self-employed with lower returns (those who earn 670 euros per month or less from their business). Currently, this equation results in a cost of around 80 euros for the self-employed worker. But if the contributions rise as Social Security has predicted, the flat rate would have to increase to 86.8 euros per month next year to maintain said equivalence.

A figure that would rise to 93.9 euros in 2027 and would reach 100.8 in 2028the last year for which there are planned installments. Thus, in percentage terms, the flat rate would increase by 8.5% next year and would register a accumulated increase of 26% in 2028 if the new contribution system saw the light. In line with the planned increase in the quota for the lowest section of the pension system.

According to the latest data published by Social Security, In Spain there are 428,545 self-employed workers who enjoy the flat rate of 80 euros per month, 9.3% less than at this time last year. One in eight self-employed workers registered in Social Security records are in this regime.

The document shared with social agents does not include changes to the flat rate designwhich can be enjoyed by self-employed workers who enter the system during their first year of activity, extendable to a second year as long as the income does not exceed the corresponding minimum wage for that year.

When the contribution system in sections was approved in 2022, the flat rate was set at 80 euros per month for the entire period 2023-2025. Once that period had elapsed, the decree law that developed the norm established that Starting in 2026, the flat rate will be decided each year in the General State Budgets (PGE).

A change that was already planned

The increase in self-employed contributions for the next three years It was already planned after the change in the contribution system which was introduced by the former Minister of Social Security and now governor of the Bank of Spain, José Luis Escrivá. The quotas for the period 2023-2025 were agreed upon in social dialogue, but those for the following three-year periods were pending negotiation.

The philosophy underlying the reform is try to progressively bring the fees paid by the self-employed closer to their real incomewith which there is still a considerable difference. The objective is that in 2032 all self-employed workers will contribute according to their real income. In this way, Social Security would reinforce its income at a time when spending on pensions is going to go in crescendo and will increasingly strain the system’s accounts. At the same time, by contributing more, the self-employed would generate rights to receive better pensions in the future.