Post by soyeb19 on Feb 17, 2024 3:34:56 GMT -5
Of the issues that remain to be resolved, one is whether or not this aid is exempt from personal income tax. “At least, until November we do not have a Government. With the legislation in hand, in the personal income tax of the year following the payment they offer us we would have to pay that tax, which depends on each autonomous community and could amount to between 48 and 54% of the total received.”
AVITE does not rule out opening negotiations with other political parties such as ERC, Bildu, Sumar or Compromís so that they include in their negotiations with PP and PSOE the exemption of aid for victims of thalidomide . It is very important to achieve this regulatory change because, after so many years of struggle, our compensation would be greatly reduced,” comments the vice president of AVITE.
“We hope to be able to negotiate with the new Government so that we are included as another exception to those already reflected in article 7 of the Personal Income Whatsapp Database Tax Law, which excludes people with HIV and victims of terrorism, among other groups, from the tax,” he comments. Basterrechea.
AVITE members celebrate their annual conference. (Image: AVITE)
From this association, it is taken for granted that payments will begin to be received in 2024 , with which they believe that they have a year ahead to negotiate with the new Government that emerges in our country and be able to convince them that this single payment that they are going to receive should have the tax exemption for which they have been fighting for the last ten years.
In fact, the documentation sent from INSERSO to those affected by AVITE shows that this payment process for this aid is subject to a budget item for the year 2024, currently unapproved. "Now the dilemma is knowing if there will be new General State Budgets for next year with the current situation of a minority Government and a possible institutional blockade and new elections on the horizon."
However, “the fact that it is already approved in the worst case scenario would force the new Government to approve a budget item from anywhere to comply with the RD law of July where our aid is established. INSERSO has to respond to each affected person to avoid deadlines running out. As I already mentioned, if there was no response, these people would be recognized as affected by thalidomide and would have access to this help.”
The problem that existed with the certificate of being in the Registry of Rare Diseases, a requirement that could be a brake for this group to access aid, seems to have been unblocked “it is the Carlos III Institute that is in charge of managing said certificate. This entity has enabled a website for us to register and is managing it directly. The website is now operational, despite the fact that it works with problems .”
Regarding the documentation that must be presented, Basterrechea clarifies that there are documents that are difficult to obtain “along with the photocopy of the DNI and the degree of disability, they require a certificate of the bank account. The complicated thing is to present a certificate of registration of the mother while the affected person was pregnant, which is from the fifties and sixties that is not digitized and you have to go to the corresponding Civil Registry, in addition to the aforementioned certificate of rare diseases.
Help for all those affected
This group regrets that the Government did not take into account the allegations of this association when presenting the Royal Decree and that they did not have access to the final draft after the approval of the Council of State.
In fact, “our demand is that the status of beneficiaries be extended to all those affected and not only to the 130 recognized by Carlos III. That leaves nearly 500 affected people out. Recognizing everyone would mean the amount of 20 million plus twelve that were incorporated at the initiative of EH BILDU. Another 100 million euros would be needed to compensate all those affected ," explains Basterrechea.
From AVITE they point out that the requirement that those affected be registered in the Registry of Rare Diseases is only met by those affected recognized by the Carlos III Institute and positively recognized, about 130, which means that the rest who do not have that recognition, the called negative, cannot access to be registered in said Registry.
“The big problem for these unrecognized victims is that they are left legally helpless . It's not just that they tell them that they are not affected by thalidomide and give them a period to correct that anomaly. They simply tell them that they are missing a piece of paper and that is why they are left out. We want to resolve this issue so that these affected colleagues can receive financial compensation,” says Basterrechea.
AVITE does not rule out opening negotiations with other political parties such as ERC, Bildu, Sumar or Compromís so that they include in their negotiations with PP and PSOE the exemption of aid for victims of thalidomide . It is very important to achieve this regulatory change because, after so many years of struggle, our compensation would be greatly reduced,” comments the vice president of AVITE.
“We hope to be able to negotiate with the new Government so that we are included as another exception to those already reflected in article 7 of the Personal Income Whatsapp Database Tax Law, which excludes people with HIV and victims of terrorism, among other groups, from the tax,” he comments. Basterrechea.
AVITE members celebrate their annual conference. (Image: AVITE)
From this association, it is taken for granted that payments will begin to be received in 2024 , with which they believe that they have a year ahead to negotiate with the new Government that emerges in our country and be able to convince them that this single payment that they are going to receive should have the tax exemption for which they have been fighting for the last ten years.
In fact, the documentation sent from INSERSO to those affected by AVITE shows that this payment process for this aid is subject to a budget item for the year 2024, currently unapproved. "Now the dilemma is knowing if there will be new General State Budgets for next year with the current situation of a minority Government and a possible institutional blockade and new elections on the horizon."
However, “the fact that it is already approved in the worst case scenario would force the new Government to approve a budget item from anywhere to comply with the RD law of July where our aid is established. INSERSO has to respond to each affected person to avoid deadlines running out. As I already mentioned, if there was no response, these people would be recognized as affected by thalidomide and would have access to this help.”
The problem that existed with the certificate of being in the Registry of Rare Diseases, a requirement that could be a brake for this group to access aid, seems to have been unblocked “it is the Carlos III Institute that is in charge of managing said certificate. This entity has enabled a website for us to register and is managing it directly. The website is now operational, despite the fact that it works with problems .”
Regarding the documentation that must be presented, Basterrechea clarifies that there are documents that are difficult to obtain “along with the photocopy of the DNI and the degree of disability, they require a certificate of the bank account. The complicated thing is to present a certificate of registration of the mother while the affected person was pregnant, which is from the fifties and sixties that is not digitized and you have to go to the corresponding Civil Registry, in addition to the aforementioned certificate of rare diseases.
Help for all those affected
This group regrets that the Government did not take into account the allegations of this association when presenting the Royal Decree and that they did not have access to the final draft after the approval of the Council of State.
In fact, “our demand is that the status of beneficiaries be extended to all those affected and not only to the 130 recognized by Carlos III. That leaves nearly 500 affected people out. Recognizing everyone would mean the amount of 20 million plus twelve that were incorporated at the initiative of EH BILDU. Another 100 million euros would be needed to compensate all those affected ," explains Basterrechea.
From AVITE they point out that the requirement that those affected be registered in the Registry of Rare Diseases is only met by those affected recognized by the Carlos III Institute and positively recognized, about 130, which means that the rest who do not have that recognition, the called negative, cannot access to be registered in said Registry.
“The big problem for these unrecognized victims is that they are left legally helpless . It's not just that they tell them that they are not affected by thalidomide and give them a period to correct that anomaly. They simply tell them that they are missing a piece of paper and that is why they are left out. We want to resolve this issue so that these affected colleagues can receive financial compensation,” says Basterrechea.