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by Jason Moore

I am rather concerned about the new Spanish government. I know that I am not alone. First, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says that he will not be raising taxes, unfortunately he claimed that he had no option but to increase income tax. He also said that he would fully support the European Union deficit cutting plan and meet all Spain´s obligations. But last week he announced that he would not be meeting these targets and defied the European Union. Spain is rapidly becoming the “Bad Boy” of Europe. To make matters worse the Balearic government has announced that it will be slapping almost five cents on the cost of a litre of petrol. Now the local government and the central administration have something in common, they are both ruled by the centre-right Partido Popular. All these tax increases are going to hit the public hard. There will be much less disposal income available for local households. Everyone will suffer from shopkeepers to restaurant owners. Now, I am no economist but surely reducing taxes is the way to get a country out of recession rather than increasing them. Rajoy´s new labour law is meant to create jobs, but the only thing it does is make it easier for companies to get rid of their employees which would further increase the rate of unemployment. So, as you can gather I am not too impressed with the Spanish Prime Minister and what concerns me is that he has only been in power for a few months. What next I wonder?