The analyzes available after months of application of the measures approved by the Government to help the poorest to overcome the worst effects of the crisis confirm with the stubborn pragmatism of the statistics that in reality
they have contributed precisely to producing the opposite effect, they have benefited in greater amount to the highest incomes
.
The so-called "social shield" of the Executive has been ineffective when it comes to influencing the domestic economy of the most vulnerable, basically
Firstly, due to the indiscriminate application of plans that, if they had been focused on those objectively most in need,
could have been effective at much lower cost to the State Accounts
.
As we develop today in our Economy pages, the bloodletting caused by the measures against inflation has been perpetrated despite the fact that the main control bodies available to the State and that prestigious macroeconomic analysts have been warning for more than a year inoperative -and even counterproductive- that results in extending the main
social support plans for the entire population, without applying an adequate filter based on the different family incomes
.
This supposed democratization of aid has finally resulted in a bill of
6 billion
, including spending already approved and the residual effect in 2023.
There are several subsidy blocks where the greatest inefficiency is concentrated when it comes to fulfilling the objective of easing the pockets of the less wealthy while benefiting the less needy economies.
The Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF), one of the organizations most critical of the development of the Government's budget, confirms in its report on the fundamental lines of the Budgets in process that the benefits of
VAT reduction on gas or discount on fuel consumption
It is more concentrated on high incomes.
It coincides on this last point -the 20 cent fuel bonus- with the Bank of Spain, which diagnosed in its day that such a generic measure could even be counterproductive, since lower-income households probably have lower fuel consumption in cars private, and because it does not encourage collective transport.
It is also AIReF that certifies that the popular
free on short and medium distance trains and other public transport
it concentrates its benefits in the urban environment with higher income levels, where these infrastructures are present;
but not so in geographical points where the population is closer to the poverty line.
The body chaired by Cristina Herreros also criticizes the
supplement for scholarships or extension of the reduction of income from work
, which mainly affect middle income households, not low.
By contrast,
it does concentrate its positive effect on the lowest incomes
the 15% increase in the Minimum Vital Income and non-contributory pensions, the aid of 200 euros to vulnerable households or the thermal social bonus.
It is there, where there is no benefit for the buoyant economies, where the Government should concentrate its efforts,
renouncing other measures of proven ineffectiveness, although more populist and indiscriminate
.
It is necessary to deploy a true social shield now that a period of recession is confirmed from March 2023.
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