Six hours is the time it took for Spain's Minister of the Treasury and Public Administrations, Cristóbal Montoro, to stand up to the Catalan Tax Agency, that on Monday morning Carles Puigdemont and Oriol Junqueras had stressed had a potential revenue of 42 billion euros. Montoro's response was not limited to considering the agency unfeasible, in accordance with the doctrine of the Constitutional Court, but he went much further by warning citizens that taxes can only be paid to the administration of the Spanish state, and that criminal proceedings could be issued against anyone not respecting the current legislation.
It is obvious that in the key week of the approval of the laws of disconnection in the Catalan Parliament, and 48 hours from when the Catalan government signs the decree to call the referendum on 1st October, Montoro wanted to stake his ground. Among other things, because the entry into force of the agency has much to do with two things whose final result is partly unknown: first, what will happen on 1st October, how many people will go to vote, and what implementation the Catalan Executive will make of the result. It is true that the unionist parties continue to not accept the celebration of the referendum, but at the same time they've begun publishing surveys in the Madrid newspapers, with data of participation (about 68%) and results (the 'yes' would win by various points). And even Tele5 broadcast a TV programme of four hours on Sunday night, with a counter showing the number of days to go before 1st October, and with different roundtable discussions that must have been disconcerting for the Spanish viewers for whom the only message they'd previously received was the nonsense that the referendum is a coup d'état.
But the route of the Tax Agency will also have to do with a variable that is impossible to evaluate at this time. One thing is if the taxes to the Catalan agency end up being paid by hundreds of people, and another thing is if they're paid by tens or hundreds of thousands of people. The first scenario concedes all the strength to the Spanish state, but in the second hypothesis it is obvious that a general case cannot be opened against a very important share of the Catalans declaring. This is the gist of the question that the minister has not spoken about, since the last scenario would be unworkable for the Spanish Treasury. In any case, we are not at this point. We are simply in the propaganda and the threat.
It is worthwhile, however, to review the qualitative leap forward in the discourse from the Spanish government in the escalation of fear. Warnings are no longer addressed to the Catalan government, Parliament or elected officials. The focus is placed directly on citizens who, in any case, can freely adopt the Catalan tax route. There was so much talk about whether the Catalan government will shield behind civil servants when carrying out the referendum of 1st October, and now it turns out that the first message of the Spanish government of the week is aimed directly at the taxpayers.