MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spanish coalition plans a “wealth” tax on the richest 1% to support “the middle class and workers”

Minister Maria Jesus Montero told a television channel it was important “we can finance aid to support the middle class and workers” but did not provide details

Spain's fragile left-wing coalition government plans to slap a temporary tax on the wealthiest 1% of the country's population to help pay for inflation and cost of living relief measures.

“We are talking about millionaires, those who are in the 1% of national income,” Finance Minister Maria Jesus Montero told a television channel on Thursday.

She said it was important that “we can finance aid to support the middle class and workers” but did not provide details on the tax rate or how much it would raise.

The government has introduced a raft of measures to help people cope with soaring prices, such as free public transport, vouchers for students to stay in school and subsidized petrol.

Spain's annual inflation rate hit 10.4% in August remaining in double digit since June, a level not seen since the mid-1980s. In July, the government introduced a bill to create a temporary levy on banks and large energy companies.

“We are going to use a similar scheme to that for energy companies and banking. For the next two years...the big fortunes of this country will be asked to make a temporary effort with a windfall contribution,” Montero said on Thursday.

She still has to negotiate the plan with her Socialist party's coalition partner Unidas Podemos and acknowledged that parliamentary approval procedures mean it might not be ready by the start of 2023.