Rubalcaba: wealth tax could net 300,000 jobs for young people

With the wealth tax fresh in every politician's mind, Socialist electoral candidate Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba predicted on Sunday the new levy will rake in 1.1 billion euros by the beginning of next year and could be used to create some 300,000 work contracts for young people.

Defending the measure, which was passed by the Cabinet on Friday, Rubalcaba rejected arguments that the revamped wealth tax would affect the middle class as the opposition Popular Party (PP) has been saying.

"How can they say such things without turning their faces in shame?" asked the Socialist prime-ministerial candidate, who was on a campaign stump in Barcelona where 20,000 supporters showed up for a rally.

Citing figures, Rubalcaba said that in Spain there are 34 million citizens over the age of 18 but only about 23 million file tax returns. He stated that only 160,000 taxpayers will be affected by the wealth tax, which will only cover this year and next.

Rubalcaba called on Mariano Rajoy, his PP opponent, to stop protecting the country's biggest fortunes "because they will always be there."

For her part, Castilla-La Mancha premier María Dolores de Cospedal of the PP criticized the Socialist for embarking on "a public debate between the rich and the poor" two months before the general elections when "for the past eight years they have gone in to bat for the banks and country's richest families."

Speaking at a PP gathering in Guadalajara, De Cospedal said that the Socialists created "mass confusion" last week with a series of discrepancies over the impact of the reintroduced tax.