Despite the deafening noise and falsehoods that the extreme right introduces into the political debate, the number of people who think that our government is beginning to live up to the legislative agenda of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's first government is constantly increasing. And that's already difficult, because that legislature brought forth very innovative laws such as that of homosexual marriage, express divorce, gender violence, and laws of dependency, equality, and historical memory.
A new initiative began to be processed in the Congress of Deputies a few days ago. I am referring to the Draft Law on the Tax on Financial Transactions, known as the Tobin tax, which managed to overcome the amendments to the entirety presented by the Popular Party, Vox and Ciudadanos, which requested its return. Although some seem to be bothered that the richest pay more taxes, the Tobin tax will continue its processing in the Finance Committee where the partial amendments registered by the different political groups will be debated.
Some call it an idea of the PSOE and Unidas Podemos Government. False. Almost ten years ago, the European Parliament approved a resolution urging the European Commission to implement a Tax on Financial Transactions based on the Tobin tax. A large group of European countries approved adopting the tax, Spain among them, but we had not applied it until now. Logical: the right was governing. So, at the initiative of a progressive government, the time came for financial transactions to contribute to the Treasury.
According to the estimates of Pedro Sánchez's Executive, the new tax is expected to raise 850 million euros. This is because the Tobin tax will tax at 0.2% the purchase of shares in Spanish companies, provided that they are listed companies and that their stock market capitalization value is greater than 1,000 million euros. To understand each other, this tax will only be paid by people who buy shares in one of the 34 of the 35 companies in the Ibex, all of them large companies, with the other companies that do not reach that value being exempt.
But who buys and sells shares of Ibex companies? You don't have to be an expert to realize that the vast majority of the population will be outside this tax, because the middle and working classes of our country cannot afford the luxury of investing in the stock market. In addition, it turns out that those who can do so will only pay 0.2% of the operations carried out with one of those 34 companies. To give us an idea, 0.2% of a thousand euros is 2 euros. This is what we are talking about to put in background those prone to tear their clothes when we talk about taxes to finance the welfare state.
What cannot be is that any citizen pays indirect taxes such as VAT, or the IGIC in the Canary Islands, for buying almost anything while those who acquire shares do not pay any tax. This is what is happening today in our country, that a few enjoy unacceptable privileges, as the Minister of Finance has pointed out, and it is time to remedy it. Is this Bill improvable? Surely, like everything in life, but what is not debatable is that we are going to take a step towards a fairer taxation while curbing speculative financial practices.
Fco. Manuel Fajardo Palarea, PSOE senator for Lanzarote and La Graciosa.