{"id":176990,"date":"2025-10-15T11:35:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T11:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/why-is-the-government-announcing-a-hike-in-fees-for-self-employed-workers-that-is-not-supported-even-by-sumar\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T11:35:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T11:35:19","slug":"why-is-the-government-announcing-a-hike-in-fees-for-self-employed-workers-that-is-not-supported-even-by-sumar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/why-is-the-government-announcing-a-hike-in-fees-for-self-employed-workers-that-is-not-supported-even-by-sumar\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is the government announcing a hike in fees for self-employed workers that is not supported even by Sumar?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

This week, the Spanish government brought a controversial proposal to the Social Security dialogue table aimed at increasing \u00a0social contributions\u00a0 from \u00a0self-employed workers\u00a0 (“aut\u00f3nomos”) starting from 2026 and continuing through 2028. This initiative has provoked backlash from the primary association representing self-employed individuals and lacks support from various political groups, including Sumar, a partner in the government coalition.<\/p>\n

What Does the Proposal Entail?<\/h2>\n

The Ministry of Social Security, led by \u00a0Elma Saiz\u00a0, aims to bridge the gap in contributions to Social Security between salaried employees and self-employed workers. The goal is to achieve parity by 2032. The transition period began in 2023, which will progressively increase contributions over three-year intervals.<\/p>\n

In the recent proposal, the government suggests \u00a0variable contribution increases\u00a0 based on income levels. These increases can range from \u00a04.3%\u00a0 for those earning between \u20ac10,800 and \u20ac14,000 annually to a staggering \u00a034.9%\u00a0 for individuals making over \u20ac72,000. Across the three years from 2026 to 2028, total increases could reach between \u00a013% and 104.9%\u00a0.<\/p>\n

In monetary terms, this will mean a contribution of between \u00a0\u20ac217\u00a0 for low earners (an increase of \u20ac17 from 2025) and \u00a0\u20ac796\u00a0 for high earners (an increase of \u20ac206).<\/p>\n

How Does the Government Justify This?<\/h2>\n

The government emphasizes that nearly \u00a040%\u00a0 of self-employed workers, approximately \u00a01.38 million\u00a0, fall into the \u00a0first three income brackets\u00a0 of the contribution table (with incomes ranging from under \u20ac670 per month to \u20ac1,166 per month). Therefore, they will see only a minimal increase in their contributions. Furthermore, \u00a063%\u00a0 of these workers opted to over-contribute in 2023 to secure better benefits, suggesting a willingness to pay more into the system.<\/p>\n

“Their contribution is lower than the accumulated inflation since 2022 and less than the minimum in 2022, which was \u00a0\u20ac294\u00a0,” the government argues.<\/p>\n

It is highlighted that only about \u00a015%\u00a0 of self-employed individuals, or \u00a0570,000\u00a0 people, are in the highest three contribution tiers (from \u00a0\u20ac3,620\u00a0 to over \u00a0\u20ac6,000\u00a0 per month). Most of these are partners or administrators of companies and will face the most significant increase in contributions. This is expected to enhance their benefit from cessation of activity (similar to unemployment benefits) from an average of \u00a0\u20ac672\u00a0 to \u00a0\u20ac1,355\u00a0, and the birth and childcare allowance will increase from \u00a0\u20ac960\u00a0 to \u00a0\u20ac1,937\u00a0.<\/p>\n

Where Did This Idea Come From?<\/h2>\n

The rationale for updating self-employed contributions stems from \u00a0Royal Decree-Law 13\/2022\u00a0, which is part of the \u00a0pension reform\u00a0 and commitments made by former minister \u00a0Jos\u00e9 Luis Escriv\u00e1\u00a0 with the European Commission as part of the \u00a0Recovery Plan\u00a0. The initial agreement stipulated that self-employed contributions would be gradually adjusted based on actual incomes up to 2032, addressing the increasing costs associated with the retirement of the \u00a0baby boom\u00a0 generation.<\/p>\n

In 2022, contribution tables were established for the period 2023-2025, and now it is the government’s task to negotiate new increases for the next three years.<\/p>\n

What Are the Reactions from Affected Parties?<\/h2>\n

Reactions among self-employed organizations have varied, but the most representative association, \u00a0ATA\u00a0, has strongly opposed the proposal. Its president, Lorenzo Amor, criticized it as a \u201c\u00a0cash grab\u00a0.\u201d He argues that the principle of those who earn more paying more has been undermined and opposes setting contribution bases for the next six years without considering the current economic and political context.<\/p>\n

The leftist association \u00a0UATAE\u00a0 echoes similar concerns, indicating that it disrupts the reduction of contributions for the more vulnerable self-employed groups, who saw a decrease in their obligations in 2023 but will now face increases.<\/p>\n

Conversely, \u00a0UPTA\u00a0 provided a more favorable assessment, suggesting that the proposal aligns with the agreements made in 2022.<\/p>\n

Will Political Parties Support This Measure?<\/h2>\n

Currently, it appears that the socialist faction of the government is isolated in its proposal, lacking support even from Sumar. The party led by \u00a0Yolanda D\u00edaz\u00a0 believes the government could focus more on taxing “rent-seekers” rather than entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

Other partners of \u00a0Pedro S\u00e1nchez\u00a0, including \u00a0Junts\u00a0 and \u00a0ERC\u00a0, along with opposition parties such as the \u00a0PP\u00a0 and \u00a0Vox\u00a0, have also expressed their dissent.<\/p>\n

What Is the Ultimate Objective?<\/h2>\n

Beyond addressing income equality among different worker categories, the government\u2019s ultimate aim is to \u00a0increase collections\u00a0 for Social Security. This is crucial for managing the rising public pension expenses expected in the coming decades, especially with a significant portion of the population from the \u00a0baby boom\u00a0 set to retire.<\/p>\n

When crafting this measure, Escriv\u00e1 projected annual contributions could provide an additional \u00a00.5% of GDP\u00a0\u2014approximately \u00a0\u20ac6.5 billion\u00a0 annual influx into public finances once fully implemented.<\/p>\n

Will this Strategy Work?<\/h2>\n

While the immediate future may see a significant rise in revenue, this will lead to higher future expenses, as increased contributions will afford self-employed workers better pension benefits. Various experts believe that, in the long run, the system may revert to a \u00a0deficit\u00a0 status, with revenues falling short of expenditures.<\/p>\n

Thus, while this measure may be effective in the short term to address urgent financial challenges, it could be seen as a *band-aid solution*, postponing inevitable imbalances that may emerge in the decades to come.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
General News – 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, the Spanish government brought a controversial proposal to the Social Security dialogue table aimed at increasing \u00a0social contributions\u00a0 from \u00a0self-employed workers\u00a0 (“aut\u00f3nomos”) starting from 2026 and continuing through 2028. This initiative has provoked backlash from the primary association representing self-employed individuals and lacks support from various political groups, including Sumar, a partner in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23832],"tags":[29930,36932],"class_list":["post-176990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-finance","tag-economia","tag-economia-macroeconomia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176990\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}