Catalonia is the community that leads the creation of its own taxes

MADRIDCatalonia is one of the autonomous communities that most makes use of its capacity to create its own taxes on elements that the State does not tax. In 2025 these taxes continue to emerge and in the State as a whole there are already 66 in operation, while in 2024 it closed with 54 autonomous taxes of its own. In the Catalan case, beyond environmental taxation, where Catalonia not only leads the collection of income but also the implementation of different tax figures, there are other taxable events on which new taxes have been created that will continue in force this 2025: sugary drinks or non-productive assets, tourist apartments and empty homes and empty homes.

These are the three examples in which Catalonia has deployed its tax capacity and thus leads the creation of its own taxes, as can be seen from the latest Overview of regional and local taxation, published this Thursday by the Registry of Economists and Tax Advisers. In fact, in the case of tourist apartments, the Generalitat has announced that it will double the tourist tax and raise taxes on large property owners.

According to the same report, in 2023 (latest data available) Catalonia received 833 million from its own taxes. Of this income, 61% came from environmental taxes (509 million), according to the same report. On the other hand, Madrid remains the only autonomous community that in 2023 did not receive anything from environmental taxes, but also from its own taxes.

It must be taken into account that despite the creation of these figures, their impact on the public coffers is small when compared to the income from those taxes ceded or shared with the State, such as personal income tax or wealth tax. In fact, the taxes of the autonomous communities as a whole only represented 2.2% of their tax revenues in 2022, according to data from economists, who, again, have complained about the disparity: "Some are maintained, others are repealed or declared unconstitutional or left in the report. For example, environmental taxes are the clear bet of the communities this 2025 and territories such as Aragon or the Valencian Community have just approved new ones.

Higher personal income tax

However, these inequalities that economists complain about are also evident in major tax figures such as personal income tax. Catalonia once again leads the way in the highest taxation of this tax on incomes between 30,000 and 40,000 euros gross per year. Thus, a single taxpayer, without children and under 65 years of age, will pay 5,038 or 9,686 euros per year depending on their income, according to the report by the Tax Advisors; while in the Valencian Community, the highest incomes (from 110,000 euros) are those that pay the most in personal income tax.

Regarding this tax, economists have highlighted that, given the normalization of prices, the communities that had decided to deflate the autonomous part of the tax and correct the effect of inflation will stop doing so in 2025. In addition, as in the case of own taxes, they also highlight that "the communities according to their place of residence."