THE collection for him Personal income tax (Income tax) has increased by 45.16% since Pedro Sánchez was in power, more than half of the growth of Gross domestic product (GDP) during this period, which was only 21.43%. Therefore, the tax pressure increased by 1.6 percentage points, to 36.8%, as the socialist executive increases taxes faster than the country’s output. This is reflected in the data from the latest report of the Tax agency (AEAT).
In addition, the collection of the Treasury through the VAT (VAT) has also increased since 2018 (when Sánchez came to power). Concretely, this tax increased by 19.4% until the end of 2023, or an amount which amounts to 83.909 million euros.
VAT is a tax that affects the majority of the population, since it is not progressive, but rather depends on consumption. This is why the greatest collection of this object was made at the expense of all Spaniards, regardless of their purchase level.
For their part, businesses are not spared either. Funds raised through Corporate tax It increased by 41.15% during the Sánchez era, up to 35,060 million euros, or 10,222 million euros more than when the PSOE began to govern.
In total, the collection increased by 30.28%, although during this period the GDP increased by only 20.43%. The tax pressure therefore increased with the socialist executive.
Collection of personal income tax
The tax that has increased its collection the most is the personal income tax, so the greatest tax pressure has been concentrated on to rent out. Concretely, the Treasury collected 45.16% more thanks to this tax, up to 120.280 million eurosan increase of 37.421 million euros.
The increase in this collection is not exclusively due to the fact that there are more workers, since, during this period, the Social Security affiliates They only increased by 9.2%, to 20.7 million.
In fact, the General Council of Economists had already warned that Sánchez’s refusal to deflate (inflation adjusted) personal income tax rate paid by Spaniards has cost each citizen around 233 euros on average over the past three years.
Thus, in the case of those who earn 45,000 euros, the excess amount paid reaches 404 euros. If the income reaches 70,000 euros, the impact is 612 euros. And if we move to the highest brackets, an income of 350,000 euros per year was overtaxed by 1,708 euros over this period.
These calculations result from the application of the inflation accumulated between 2021 and 2023, or 16.1%. If only the CPI from 2023, by 3.2%, an income of 30,000 euros will pay 46.22 euros more in the declaration which must be submitted now. If it were deflated due to the average salary increase, which was 5.4% last year, this taxpayer could save 78 euros this year.
For the following income brackets, the saving in the current declaration in the event of rate deflation would be as follows: for income of 45,000 euros, 86 euros with a deflation of 3.2% and 145 euros with that of 5 .4%; for those of 70,000 euros, 163 euros if 2023 inflation was applied to income tax and 275 euros if the salary increase was applied; and for incomes of 350,000 euros, the savings would be 355 and 598 euros respectively.
Therefore, the record level of personal income tax collection is due, in large part, to the government’s refusal to adjust the tax criteria to high inflation levels that Spain has been suffering for years.
In addition to these data, we must add the creation of new taxes, such as the extraordinary one that affects the sector. banking and energywhich was a great source of money for the state. So much so that the Minister of the Economy has already talked about making it permanent.
