Rajoy: "No increase in VAT or Income Tax in 2013 budget"

Ooops, wrong IVA!!
(This is Iva Jerkovic,
but we decided to
leave her anyway)

President says 'evil minds insinuate' that his government is waiting until after early elections in Galicia and the Basque country

MADRID Spain's Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy said at a press conference recently that he had no plans to increase VAT from its present 21%, nor Income Tax (IRPF) in the budget for 2013. He added that he hoped not to have to make 'such difficult decisions' as those he has had to make in the first months of his legislature, in order to meet the deficit head on. He stated that he hadn't wanted to raise these taxes but they had to be, as 'reality is reality' and they were necessary to contribute toward the 'consolidation of the budget' and aimed at recovering the economy and create employment in the medium term. He admitted that these increases had not been part of his electoral manifesto and he can understand the ill feelings they have created. He would 'return to the way things were' as soon as possible. (Prospero note: We've heard it all before, not only from the previous government, which for too long denied the existence of a crisis, but also from the former governments of Greece, Portugal and Ireland, just before asking for a rescue. So let's be warned.) (But see what we published in April: VAT to go up next year... Who do you believe, if anybody?)