The Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities (CERMI), the Third Sector Platform, and the European Network Against Poverty and Social Exclusion (EAPN-ES) demand that individuals who receive the minimum interprofessional salary (SMI) do not pay personal income tax (IRPF) following the latest increase approved last Tuesday by the Council of Ministers.
«CERMI condemns the government’s intention to make workers who receive the minimum interprofessional salary pay taxes, stating that a large or the majority of people with disabilities who work would be penalized by this measure, as many of them earn low wages, many of which fall under the SMI,» said its president, Luis Cayo Pérez Bueno, to Europa Press.
The organization demands that the government of Pedro Sánchez does not financially penalize recipients of the minimum interprofessional salary by making them pay IRPF. According to the social entity, basic social guarantee measures such as the SMI «should be exempt from taxation, as otherwise they lose much or all of their purpose as a support element for social inclusion and maintaining minimum living conditions.»
CERMI argues that «there are many workers» within the SMI wage range, and that «the impact of this tax burden will significantly harm their already low income capacity, thereby diluting to a large extent something positive like the increase in the SMI in recent years.»
CERMI calls on the government to ensure that the SMI, regardless of its amount, «is always exempt from IRPF taxation in order not to distort an evidently social measure designed to ensure a minimum wage for all workers.»
The Third Sector Platform, representing about 28,000 social entities, also makes the same request. The organization’s president, Luciano Poyato, positively values the increase in the minimum interprofessional salary to 16,576 euros gross per year, but considers it «essential that this measure is accompanied by the corresponding update in IRPF to ensure that it remains exempt from taxation.»
PUTTING AN END TO UNCERTAINTY
Poyato warns that if the exemption from IRPF taxation is not maintained, «an effect of inequality in the Spanish tax system punishing people with lower economic capacity will occur.» Therefore, the Third Sector Platform urges the government to resolve this situation to «put an end to the uncertainty generated» for hundreds of thousands of workers receiving the minimum wage.
In this regard, Poyato argues that the minimum wage «must always be exempt from taxation» because, otherwise, «thousands of workers with minimal incomes will suffer a reduction in their disposable income, and the benefits of the minimum wage increase will be overshadowed by this taxation.»
Furthermore, the Third Sector Platform emphasizes that the tax system must ensure that resources are generated to «increase the coverage and impact of social policies, support the ecological transition of the economy, focus on reducing inequalities, and effectively combat tax fraud, evasion, and avoidance, both domestically and internationally.»
In this discussion, the Vice President of Social Rights, Just Transition, and International Affairs of the Third Sector Platform, Carlos Susías Rodado, stated to Europa Press that «the increase in the minimum wage is a very good measure,» while the decision not to raise the exemption threshold is a poor one.»
As for the European Network Against Poverty and Social Exclusion (EAPN-ES), the organization also celebrates the increase in the minimum wage but demands that it remains exempt from IRPF taxation, stating that «this measure distances Spain from a fair tax system» and that there should be «greater tax collection pressure on higher incomes.»
THOSE MOST AFFECTED BY PRECARIOUSNESS
EAPN-ES highlights that the SMI has increased by 60.9% since 2018, rising from 735.90 euros per month to 1,184 euros in 2025 (an increase of 448.10 euros). Referring to estimates from CCOO, this increase will benefit about 2.1 million workers in Spain, «especially those social groups most affected by labor precarity: women, young people, those with temporary contracts, in elementary occupations, and in sectors such as agriculture, hospitality, or commerce.»
EAPN-ES applauds this agreement as «a significant advancement in the fight against poverty, especially working poverty,» and notes that in Spain, 2.5 million people are poor despite being employed, according to the XIV Report ‘The State of Poverty’.
However, the network has expressed its opposition to the decision by the Treasury to apply IRPF to the SMI and urges the government to raise the IRPF exemption threshold as in previous years to avoid the effects of this measure on the most vulnerable populations.
According to the Expert Commission Report on the SMI, the measure will affect half a million people, 20% of the nearly 2.5 million who receive the SMI, most of whom are single with no dependents, and many are young people in their first jobs, who will pay 300.05 euros per year.
EAPN-ES highlights that young people in Spain face «specific challenges,» especially in terms of the labor market and access to housing. Specifically, they point out that the temporary employment rate of individuals aged 16 to 29 is more than double the overall rate (34.7% compared to 15.7%), and youth unemployment exceeds the total population figure: 21.4% versus 12.2%.
This situation, they warn, results in a poverty issue among young people affecting more than 1.5 million individuals, exacerbated by the current housing rental crisis.
Therefore, the organization calls on the government to «support a fair tax system and wealth redistribution that ensures social cohesion and reinforces the Welfare State, putting more tax pressure on higher incomes.»