Spain's PSOE claims taxes are down and says Feijóo doesn't understand them

Spain's PSOE argues that an annual salary of €17,094, the minimum wage, is not subject to income tax, whereas under the PP it averaged €1,800. The claim comes in the middle of the campaign, with Feijóo seeking to weaken the Government.

The PSOE has published a message on the social network X defending its tax policy on the lowest incomes. The party states that the Government has spent four years cutting income tax on the most modest salaries and ensuring that the minimum wage (SMI) is not taxed. The party puts that salary at **€17,094 a year** and asserts that those earning it pay no income tax.

## The comparison with the PP years

The message goes beyond the present and draws a direct comparison with the years of Partido Popular (Spain's conservative party) government. According to the PSOE, during that period the same salary paid an average of **€1,800** in income tax in nominal terms. The claim, released by the party itself, is not accompanied in the message by the methodology of the calculation or the exact period it refers to.

The €1,800 figure is presented as an average, which implies that not all taxpayers in that bracket paid the same. The PSOE does not detail in its post how many years that average covers or what types of income it includes.

## Feijóo and the campaign against the Government

The PSOE's post comes in a context of political confrontation. The leader of the PP, **Alberto Núñez Feijóo**, has centred his strategy on attacking the Government's economic management. The socialist party interprets this move as an attempt to weaken the Government without offering a clear fiscal alternative.

The PSOE's message does not mention any concrete PP proposal on income tax or the minimum wage. It merely contrasts its own record with that of the party that governed before.

## What the minimum wage's tax exemption means

Whether a minimum wage is subject to income tax depends on the combination of the salary amount and the tax-free allowance set in the legislation. The PSOE presents that exemption as its own achievement. The measure carries a cost in lost revenue for the public purse that the message does not quantify.

The PSOE's claim about the €1,800 average under the PP is a comparison the party attributes to its own analysis. It is not specified whether that figure is adjusted for inflation or refers to nominal values for each year. On tax matters, any figure should be checked against the official source before being taken as final.