Spain’s Prime Minister has announced a brand new round of austerity measures today in order for it to meet it’s agreements with the European Union. The new taxes and spending cuts are intended to bring the budget deficit down by 65 billion euros by 2014.The planned tax hikes will be a 3-point increase on the Value Added Tax on goods and services, as well new indirect taxes on energy. Spain’s cuts on spending will affect unemployment benefits, and civil service pay and perks. There was also an announcement of plans to privatize ports, airports, and certain rail assets.These new measures come as the EU agreed on Tuesday to give Spain an additional year, 2014 rather than 2013, to reach its goal of bringing the public deficit down to 3% of GDP.
