We recommend the following article, "One thing Spain can teach us: how not to spread the wealth in your country", published in The Guardian on Tuesday 4 March 2014, written by Teresa Garcia-Milà and Therese J McGuire.
Extracts:
The Spanish system used to be a model for resource distribution. But Catalonia shows how it's blatantly unfair
[...] regional governments in Spain, particularly Catalonia, are chafing under a federal system that has devolved spending responsibility without giving the communities commensurate revenue-raising authority.
Many in Catalonia, one of the largest tax contributors in Spain, view the federal system as blatantly unfair. Catalonians argue that the semi-autonomous region of more than 7.5 million could have done much better in providing for its residents and riding out the crippling economic crisis if tax revenue transfers to other parts of the country had adhered to a judicious and transparent implementation of equity, or solidarity, principles.
With certainty and clarity about central government support and with responsibility for raising additional revenue, Spain's autonomous communities would likely have made more responsible spending decisions and been more cautious in issuing debt.
But Spain's devolution process has proved to be fundamentally flawed and subject to the whims of whichever party is in power in the central government. It involves several transfer programs, with different, and sometimes conflicting, goals.
⚡️ Thread with legal and historical arguments on "#Catalonia #selfdetermination” https://t.co/Z1lx1D1bdS
— Col·lectiu Emma (@CollectiuEmma) 15 de març de 2017