Sánchez Vows Higher Taxes on Housing Funds and Paid Leave for Parents
At a rally in Alcorcón, Pedro Sánchez pledged more tax on big housing funds and paid leave to care for children under 8 before the Nov. 29 vote.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez promised on Sunday that large investment funds owning homes in Spain would pay more tax, and that parents would get a new paid benefit to look after children under 8. He announced both at a PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party) rally in Alcorcón, a town in the Comunidad de Madrid (Madrid region), ahead of the general election on Nov. 29.
The pledges are part of the Socialist election program. None of them is law yet: they depend on the PSOE winning the vote and then passing the measures through parliament.
What it means for renters and home buyers
According to Europa Press, Sánchez said the higher taxes would target big funds that keep homes empty, rent flats to tourists or charge rents he described as “unaffordable for the middle and working class.” The party did not give rates, thresholds or a start date for the new taxes. A PSOE post on X listed the pledge as more taxes on large funds and on housing speculation.
A new paid benefit for parents of young children
The proposed benefit would pay 100% of the base reguladora (the earnings figure Spain’s social security uses to calculate benefits) for four weeks, Europa Press reported. Both fathers and mothers would be eligible, and it would cover the care of children younger than 8. The PSOE did not say how the leave could be split or when it would begin.
Pensions, abortion and a “friendship union”
Sánchez repeated two promises he had already made: to write into the Constitution pension increases in line with the IPC (Spain’s consumer price index) and the right to abortion. The program also proposes a “unión de amistad” (friendship union), which the PSOE wants added to the Código Civil (Civil Code). It would give rights to people who are neither a couple nor related by blood but who choose to care for each other. The party’s post on X also promised more rights and easier procedures for self-employed workers (autónomos).
The rally in Alcorcón
Europa Press said several ministers attended, along with Sánchez’s parents, who rarely go to party events. They sat in the front rows. Sánchez opened the event himself, waving a Spanish flag, which Europa Press called an unprecedented gesture. ABC reported that organizers had placed small Spanish, PSOE and European flags on the seats.
Sánchez also praised Carlos Cuerpo, his first deputy prime minister, who is not a PSOE member but is campaigning alongside him. “He knows economics and speaks many languages,” Sánchez said, according to ABC. Cuerpo recently took over the transport portfolio after Óscar Puente resigned after the tragic accident in Urda, ABC noted.
What’s at stake on Nov. 29
ABC reported that the government believes the Socialists can hold on to power only with heavy turnout, at around 75%. The paper said the party is trying to win back voters from the left while also reaching for centrist voters, with Cuerpo as the face of that effort. His main rivals are Feijóo of the PP and Abascal of Vox.
Sources: ABC, Europa Press
