Tax cuts in 2014 for Spain's low-income earners

Spain's finance minister has told a business newspaper that the government plans to cut income taxes for low-income Spanish families in 2014, but that citizens in higher-income brackets won't get the same windfall until the country's economy emerges from a prolonged crisis.

In an interview published Thursday, Cristobal Montoro did not tell the Expansion newspaper how much taxes will be lowered for low-income earners or specify the income levels they must have to receive the benefit.

Montoro said the administration of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy predicts the Spanish economy will expand by one per cent in 2014 after a punishing recession lasting years.

Rajoy has pushed through waves of austerity-driven, unpopular tax hikes and government programme cutbacks since taking office in 2011, to reduce Spain's budget deficit.

- AP