The president of the Association of Self-Employed Workers (ATA), Lawrence Lovebelieves that the proposal on the pension reform presented last Friday by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations is “an ax blow“, since “it is not good for employment” and “will pave the way to the underground economy“. “There is nowhere to take it. It does not guarantee anywhere that pensions are sustainable, what’s more, it seems that within three years there may be a turn of the screw”, said Amor, in statements to the media, during the IV ATA Forum. In this sense, the president of ATA has assured that the draft is being studied, although they only see “collection voracity” on the part of the State and a reform that will force the contributor to “pay more taxes and collect less pension”.
Solidarity quota or “masked tax”
Amor has insisted that employers are aware that pensions must be guaranteed, but they disagree that it must be done “pressing with social contributions.” In addition, the president of the self-employed has been particularly critical of the solidarity quota that the Government has raised as part of the reform to improve the income of the system. This fee will be applied to the part of the salary that is currently not listed due to exceeding the maximum contribution limit, which will be 1% in 2025 and will increase at a rate of 0.25 points per year until it reaches 6% in 2045 (5 % paid by the company and 1% paid by the worker).
For Love, it’s all about”a masked tax in a solidarity quota” and has questioned whether “those who contribute 4,495 euros and perhaps 3,000 euros will come to their account” are considered “rich”. “It is the height of nonsense,” she has insisted. In addition to the pension table, the employers also have pending negotiations for the Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC), although these will be bipartite with the unions, on March 22. “We are going with the best of provisions”, commented Amor. The president of ATA has indicated that they agree with the unions that “wages must be raised”, but he recalled that “The situation of the self-employed and SMEs is critical”.
Electoral context and campaigns against businessmen
During his speech at the opening of these conferences, Amor indicated that 2023 will be marked by the political context, with regional and municipal elections in May, and other general ones. The president of ATA has warned that this may be an “additional risk for the economic recovery.” He has also stressed the need to maintain “legal security” and “respect for companies, businessmen and the self-employed” whom he considers “the solution and not the problemdespite the fact that we have resorted to different campaigns against him,” added Amor.
The president of ATA has asked the Government to “strengthen its commitment to the self-employed” and “do not put more obstacles or stones in the way.” He has also urged the Executive to ease the tax burden on the self-employed and facilitate their access to European funds to improve their competitiveness and avoid the destruction of the Spanish business fabric. Amor has warned of the bad data in the affiliation of the self-employed and forecasts a 2023 “loss of the self-employed”. “The self-employed data is an early indicator of what can happen with employment”, she has predicted in her intervention.
