The Council of Ministers has submitted the Reform of the General Tax Act to parliament. The three principal aims of the new legislation are to step up the fight against fraud, reduce conflicts and increase legal certainty, explained the Minister for the Treasury and the Public Administration Services, Cristóbal Montoro.
One of the main new aspects of the text is the publication of the list of taxpayers with outstanding debts and sanctions in excess of one million euros. Cristóbal Montoro pointed out that, following the recommendation made by the Council of State, the list will not contain tax debts and sanctions that are deferred or suspended. Interested parties will be granted a plea phase prior to publication, and any final decision can be challenged through the administrative courts.
The government plans to publish the first list of debtors in the fourth quarter of the year to include those in this situation as at 31 July 2015.
Fight against tax fraud
Another noteworthy measure in the field of the fight against fraud is the "anti-abuse regulation" - a new tax offence that seeks to penalise actions or business transactions carried out with intent to defraud, which are substantially similar to others already classified previously as abusive by the public administration for going against public criteria. Furthermore, the law extends the powers for investigation and verification - the deadline for verifying tax bases, tax payable or deductions will be extended to ten years - steps up actions by tax administration bodies and strengthens the system for offences and penalties to combat smuggling.
With the aim of increasing legal certainty, the draft law sets new deadlines for inspection proceedings: a longer time period is established (18 months in general and 27 months for particularly complex cases), while limiting the grounds for suspending the calculation of this period and removing delays not attributable to the public authorities. It also contains measures to speed up actions by the financial-administrative courts, such as boosting electronic procedures.
In order to reduce conflicts in this area, the new legislation extends the powers of the tax authorities to hand down interpretive or explanatory provisions and those who adhere to these criteria are exempt from any form of liability deriving therefrom.
List of tax evaders
On a complementary basis, the Council of Ministers analysed the Draft Constitutional Law regulating access to information contained in rulings on tax fraud. The text will now be forwarded for analysis by the General Council of the Judiciary.
Cristóbal Montoro remarked that the government has also followed the recommendation of the Council of State on this issue which deals with publishing the personal details of those found guilty of offences against the Treasury (including insolvency offences and smuggling to the detriment of the Treasury). This will apply to all sentences following the entry into force of the new law.
The minister specified that the publication of sentences will not be in full, but only those aspects that are strictly necessary to disclose the tax offence, thus guaranteeing the fundamental rights to honour and privacy, as well as protection of personal data.
According to Cristóbal Montoro, as a result of these initiatives, the government is meeting its commitment to publish the list of debtors and list of tax evaders while modernising procedures "to help improve relations between the public authorities and the taxpayer".
Future Highway Act
The Minister for Public Works, Ana Pastor, presented the Draft Bill on Highways to the Council of Ministers, a text which adapts legislation in force since 1988 to new developments in the road network.
The main aim of the new legislation is to improve the use of available resources, and hence "prior to building a new road, the needs and expected present and future traffic on the road network will be analysed", explained the minister.
Ana Pastor highlighted that the future legislation will prevent regional or local authorities from reclassifying land during planning processes for new roads in order to "avoid speculative actions". The precautionary temporary suspension will be in place for one year with an exceptional extension of six additional months.
The text establishes that any project must contain a prior road safety plan. It must also include initiatives to protect public highway heritage. In this regard, the minister announced that the Ministry of Public Works may order, even on urban roads, the removal of advertising that could affect road safety or the exploitation of roads.
Ana Pastor also pointed out that the legislation will allow for the promotion of service areas to be carried out under private initiative, with the aim of providing "more services to users". Furthermore, so-called safe parking areas or rest areas will have specific services to guarantee the safety of drivers and their vehicles.
The draft bill provides for the use of smart transport systems to offer information in real time to users on the state of infrastructures and traffic through informative displays and devices incorporated in vehicles. The minister commented that on various stretches of the A-52, A-55 and AP-9 motorways, a pilot project is being carried out with 20 vehicles equipped with these new systems.
The future Highway Act increases the amounts of sanctions on toll motorways. The maximum penalty is set at 15,000 euros.
New public procurement legislation
The Council of Ministers analysed two reports on the Draft Bills on Public Procurement in the specific sectors of water, energy, transport and postal services.
The Vice-President of the Government, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, affirmed that the new regulation of the public sector "will result in greater guarantees to avoid possible cases of fraud in public procurement, increase transparency and implement greater controls".
Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría underlined that "the legislation can also be applied to bodies with predominantly public funding, such as political parties, trade unions, business organisations and foundations".
Those companies bidding for public contracts will necessarily have to maintain contact with the public authorities through electronic means. In order to ensure greater transparency, the so-called negotiated procedure (unpublished tenders) will be limited. However, since certain contracts require certain quickness, a simplified open procedure will be created, in which the tender process will be very brief (around one month).
On another note, competition is boosted by introducing an incentive for contracts to be divided into lots so that small companies can also have access to parts of the contract.
The Vice-President of the Government referred to the new regulation of pecuniary liability applicable to public concessions. "If for reasons of public interest and grounds not attributable to the contractor, the public authority agrees to rescind the concession, it will pay the successful bidder for the investment made. However, if the contract is terminated on grounds attributable to the contractor, as occurs in the case of insolvency or creditors' arrangements, compensation will be determined for the amount of the concession, not of the investment", she stated.
Resolution of consumer conflicts
The government analysed the Draft Bill on Alternative Resolutions to Consumer Conflicts, which will make it easier for consumers to resolve their claims without resorting to the courts.
Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría stressed that the resolution procedures, whose rulings may be binding or not, shall be free of charge or relatively inexpensive, transparent, simple, swift, fair and impartial. The new legislation establishes a maximum period for resolution of 90 calendar days from the date the claim is filed. The maximum cost to the consumer will be set at 30 euros.
New DTT licences
The government has approved the tender specifications and corresponding public tender for the award, by competitive tender, of six licences for the operation of free televised audiovisual communication services through terrestrial airwaves with national coverage.
The Vice-President of the Government specified that six audiovisual licences will be granted, of which three are for broadcasting high definition television channels and another three for broadcasting in standard quality. The deadline for the presentation of bids will conclude at the end of the month of May and the licences will be awarded within a maximum term of six months.
Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría pointed out that "citizens will be able to receive the six new channels without any need for them to adapt their equipment or aerials".
Other agreements
The Council of Ministers agreed to renew, for one year, the authorisation granted for the deployment of a military force from the United States at Morón de la Frontera Air Base in Seville, within the framework of operations in response to the crisis situations in Africa to protect citizens, installations and personnel stationed there.
It is agreed to request authorisation from the Lower House of Parliament for the deployment and participation of the Spanish Armed Forces in the European Union's advisory operations in the Central African Republic (EUMAM RCA).
At a cultural level, the government approved the creation of the National Commission for the Commemoration in 2016 of the 4th Centenary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes.
On another note, the government regulated the direct concession of subsidies for a sum of 7 million euros, for the purchase of electric vehicles in 2015.
Current affairs
In relation to the proceedings open against Rodrigo Rato, both the Vice-President of the Government and the Minister for the Treasury and the Public Administration Services stressed that this is a singular case in which ordinary proceedings are being followed to which the "government is not a party nor will it interfere".
"The law is the same for everyone", said Cristóbal Montoro, and hence "it makes no difference whether he belongs to one party or another, or his social status, political status, political power or the economic power attributed to him. We are all the same before the law".
For her part, the Vice-President of the Government announced that the Director General of the State Tax Agency will appear on Tuesday 22 April to report on this subject.
As regards the current state of diplomatic relations between Spain and Venezuela, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría described the latest statements from Venezuelan politicians as "unacceptable insults" which do not contribute "in the slightest" to understanding between our two peoples. She also recalled that the non-legislative motion adopted by the Lower House of Parliament, calling for the release of political prisoners in that country included the majority support of this House.
The Vice-President of the Government also reported on the institutional funeral for the victims of the Germanwings plane crash in the Alps to be held on Monday 27 April, and pointed out that this is being organised in coordination with the Royal Household, the authorities of Catalonia and in response to the suggestions of the families of the victims.
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