“This pandemic has demonstrated the importance of the public sphere: our public health system, public education, as well as programs like the temporary wage subsidy scheme. This is what the public system is for — and if we are to save this country, we need tax policies that will sustain it.” So said Spain’s labor minister and Unidas Podemos MP Yolanda Díaz as her party launched its proposal for an ambitious new wealth tax. The aim is to use the levy to raise €11 billion per year for state coffers — a figure equivalent to 1 percent of Spanish GDP.

At a moment of deep national crisis, Díaz’s party insists that “those who have the most must contribute the most.” The so-called COVID tax is targeted at the superrich, particularly the one thousand largest fortunes in Spain. Under the proposal, net assets over €1 million would be taxed at 2 percent, increasing progressively to 2.5 percent above €10 million, 3 percent above €50 million, and 3.5 percent for wealth over €100 million. The tax would also apply to assets held by Spanish residents outside of the country.

Addressing parliament, Unidas Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias — today deputy prime minister — encouraged domestic elites to demonstrate “fiscal patriotism” and embrace the new levy. While such generosity seems unlikely, the proposed tax does have widespread popular support — according to a poll published in Público earlier this month, 65 percent of Spaniards are in favor. Crucially, on Friday May 15 it was reported that Iglesias had reached a tentative agreement with Socialist (PSOE) prime minister Pedro Sánchez — committing the PSOE to back its coalition partner’s proposal when it comes before parliament’s post-COVID-19 reconstruction committee.