VOX spreads tax pledge of 0% income tax up to €22,000 in Spain

VOX spreads tax pledge of 0% income tax up to €22,000 in Spain

What does VOX promise if you vote for them? And what about the PSOE? The question has been circulating on forums and social media in recent days. VOX has released a salary calculator claiming that a worker earning under €22,000 gross would pay 0% income tax, 15% up to €70,000 and 25% above that. The PSOE, for its part, has not published an equivalent tool. The underlying question raised by some participants is not what each party promises, but whether campaign promises are worth anything at all.

VOX's calculator: 0% income tax and a VAT cut

The proposal VOX is spreading is a tax cut that, according to its figures, would leave income tax at 0% for incomes below €22,000. For higher brackets, the rate would be 15% up to €70,000 and 25% above that. On top of that comes a cut in VAT from 21% to 18% and the abolition of the wealth tax. The party has accompanied the announcement with a salary simulator comparing a current payslip with what it would look like under its programme.

Some argue the calculation is misleading: a worker on the minimum wage would barely notice any difference, since their withholding is already minimal, while someone earning one million euros would save €220,000 a year, according to the example circulating in the debate. The thread also claims the cut would be financed by slashing public services, something VOX does not detail in its simulator.

The PSOE and the promise that cannot be checked

The PSOE has not presented an equivalent calculator. The debate criticises the party for neither quantifying nor comparing. The most repeated criticism is that it has broken previous commitments, which makes its promises read with scepticism.

Some claim the PSOE lies about everything, while others recall that the 440,000 social housing units it promised were never built. The distrust is not exclusive to one party: some participants extend it to the system as a whole. The question "who is Pedro Sánchez really?" sums up that distrust, but adds no data.

Is voting worth anything if promises are not binding?

The most repeated objection is that election programmes are not contracts. "If programmes were binding, things would be very different," sums up the scepticism of much of the electorate. Abstention, however, does not punish anyone either: it does not remove seats nor force accountability. Voting for the lesser evil is seen by some as legitimising a system that offers alternatives designed to change nothing.

The counterargument is that giving up the vote leaves the field open to those who do use it. There is no organised third way, and the attempts made have not taken off. The discussion drifts towards housing: some argue that VOX proposes protecting property owners and rentiers, while the PP and the PSOE have made no structural reforms. Housing has become the decisive issue for some participants, and there the promises clash with voters' interests.

---

On this basis, the campaign boils down to a calculator versus silence. VOX shows figures that some participants dispute; the PSOE shows none. And the voter, meanwhile, decides whether it is worth voting for someone who promises what they cannot deliver or for someone who promises nothing concrete. Democracy, they say, means choosing between bad options. The strange thing is that nobody bothers to improve them.