JULIA MARTÍNEZ’S pharmacy in the village of Villanueva de Alcorón, in central Spain, has gaps on the shelves. Supplies are short because she cannot pay her bills. Why? Because she has not been paid for three months for drugs she sold to clients whose tabs are supposed to be picked up by the government of Castile-La Mancha.

Ms Martínez is a victim of two linked problems—Spain’s budget deficit and its spiralling health costs. The central government wants to cap the combined deficit of the regions, which account for one-third of public spending, at 1.3% of GDP this year. By June it had already reached 1.2%. Spain’s Socialist finance minister, Elena Salgado, insists that the country will meet this year’s overall deficit target of 6% of GDP. But she—or her replacement from the opposition People’s Party which, if the polls are right, will take power after a general election on November 20th—will have to find extra resources to cope with the regions. The latest talk is of a wealth tax.

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