THE FISCAL PRESSURE OF COMPANIES IN SPAIN IS 4 POINTS HIGHER THAN THAT OF THE EU

The tax pressure on companies in Spain is up to almost four points higher than the media in the European Union (EU). According to recently published GDP and collection data for 2021, the business tax burden in 2021 increases to 12% of GDP. And all this even without considering the differential that the shadow economy means, since, if we take this factor into account, the corporate tax burden in Spain would be 15% compared to 11.1% in the EU. In 2018, the corporate tax pressure in Spain was 11.1% of GDP compared to 9.6% of the average for the economy. This is highlighted in the White Paper for Tax Reform in Spain presented by the Institute of Economic Studies (IEE).

Specialists in tax matters do not see room to collect more through increases in the Corporation Tax. "Compared to the countries around us, the tax burden borne by our companies is very high, and we have a Corporate Tax comparable to that of the EU, so a reform is not feasible to obtain relevant increases in tax collection for this concept", explain the IEE economists in the White Paper. In 2018, in Spain, companies contributed 31.9% of total public revenue, while in the EU, on average, companies only contributed 24.6% of total revenue.

The IEE maintains that the maximum applicable marginal rates of personal income tax in Spain are already above the average values ​​of the EU, which can introduce significant distortions in the decision-making of agents, since they face the threat of very high tax rates. that discourage their propensity to increase their income. In addition, in average data from the EU, the maximum marginal applies to a salary 4.1 times the average salary, while in our country the maximum marginal applies to a salary 2.8 times the average, so the fiscal effort is in May.