ZP’s latest idea is to bring back a wealth tax (the Impuesto sobre Patrimonios) which will tax the assets of anyone with over 750,000€. The tax hits private assets, whether this be a house, a boat, two cars or a pearl necklace.
This tax was eliminated in 2007, although it raised some 2,100 million a year (or 0,2% of Spain’s 2007 GNP). It was scrapped because it mainly hits the middle classes, the ones with the larger homes that shot up in value during the boom years – anyone with serious money got around this antiquated tax easily enough by incorporating their wealth and paying company tax.
Indeed, critics say that it was more of a “censual tax”, in as much as it only looked up the details of large homeowners and sent them a bill.
However, this is all part of ZP’s plan to “redistribute the wealth”, one of the most chilling phrases in any language.
The exact amount the tax will be set at is not known. But Banif, the private wealth bank, estimated almost 20,000 people in Almería alone will be affected.