The tax cuts were one of the hooks used by the leader of the Andalusian Popular Party, Juan Manuel Moreno, in the 2018 and 2022 election campaigns to connect with the electorate. Since he came to power in 2019, he has implemented up to seven tax cuts with an impact on the Andalusian Budget of 1,794.2 million euros per year, according to data from the Ministry of Economy, Finance, European Funds and Social Dialogue. Moreno has promised to implement these cuts in the next legislature, such as the 99% exemption on inheritance and gift tax regarding housing between siblings.
At a meeting organized by Cadena SER Andalucía at the Club Cámara Antares in Seville, the socialist candidate left open the question of whether she would eliminate these tax cuts if she reaches the presidency of the Junta. When she was Minister of Finance, Montero was reluctant to the PSOE agreement with Ciudadanos for inheritance tax to be paid only on inheritances over one million euros.
For the former Minister of Finance, it is “unacceptable” that the Andalusian president demands more resources from the central government that come from taxes and “does the opposite within his competence,” she responded. Montero has demanded that the Andalusian president “clarify” whether he will accept the new regional financing model that she outlined before leaving the government and that would mean 5,700 million euros more per year for the autonomous community. Moreno has already shown his rejection of that proposal, although, according to the socialist, “he said no reluctantly.”
In her opinion, the Popular leader is “keeping his fingers crossed” for the reform of the system to go ahead, because “objectively it is good” for Andalusia. “We are better financed than with the current model, it is the most benefited community and it is said no to the proposal because it comes from a socialist government.” The PSOE secretary general reiterated that she will allocate 3,000 million euros annually — out of the 5,700 from a financing system that has not been approved — to healthcare.
Montero has shown willingness to reinstate the drug auction that she launched when she was Minister of Health and that meant an annual saving of 1,000 million euros in the entire Spanish health system. “It was a successful measure. Obviously, I prefer to invest in doctors than to give that money for the profits of the pharmaceutical industry,” she emphasized.
She also assured that she will prohibit heads of service in the Andalusian health system from combining their work in private healthcare. “We already did it,” said Montero, for whom it is “common sense” that those responsible for managing public resources “cannot start ordering the health system when they have interests where they are paid to reduce waiting lists.” Montero sets this incompatibility only for heads of service, not for all doctors.
The socialist candidate insisted on her denunciation that among the proposals the Andalusian president is considering “he has on the table co-payment” in healthcare, something Moreno has denied.
The socialist secretary general described the electoral results in Hungary with the defeat of the ultraconservative Viktor Orbán as “magnificent” and defended that this conservative wave “can and should be stopped.” According to her, the PP intends “to install a mindset that people should not go to vote because everything is already decided,” she said in relation to the data from the Andalusian Studies Center survey released yesterday, which records an abstention of 43.7%, two points more than in the 2022 elections.
