Spain on the way to federalism

Last week Spain adopted a new system of revenue equalisation between the autonomous regions and the Spanish state.The liberal daily La Vanguardia sees this as a step in the direction of federalism, even if the reform still needs to prove itself in practice: "On paper at least the new system brings a number of important innovations that are of far-reaching significance for the autonomous regions. The regions will receive a large proportion of the taxes levied (50 percent of VAT, 50 percent of income tax, 58 percent of special taxes, etc.) along with the increased responsibility for taxes that this brings. This is an interesting step in the direction of a federalism that is probably now inevitable - a federalism that the Spanish government still does not want to officially recognise and which it does not yet wish to vest with more transparent and objective norms (including transforming the Senate into a territorial chamber)."

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