Spain was one of the seven countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, the think tank of the world's most developed economies) where last year the rise in taxes on wages far outstripped the increase in salaries, resulting in a loss of real income. The calculation, however, does not take into account the value of the public services citizens receive, which are funded by taxes.

For a few days now, the opposition's offensive has consisted of talking about the existence of a fiscal hell. The PP, which insists on the need to lower taxes, has recently been using the concept frequently. And it is an expression that the president of Foment del Treball, Josep Sánchez Llibre, who will run again for a third term in the elections he has called for May 18, made known during the presentation of the Green Paper on taxation in Catalonia in 2024. He himself considers it "apt" and says it is currently enduring.

The General Council of Economists, the body that groups the colleges of economists of the State, proposes that the Spanish government adjust its income tax bracket (IRPF) to the salary increases of recent years. According to the entity's calculations, a Catalan worker with a gross annual salary of 25,000 euros would save about 252 euros annually, while for higher salaries, such as 400,000 euros, the savings would exceed 2,100 euros annually.

The State closed 2025 with the lowest public deficit since the outbreak of the financial crisis of 2008, thanks to a new historic record in tax collection, as reported this Tuesday by the Ministry of Finance.

The Spanish government is working on a package of measures to address the economic consequences of the war in the Middle East, especially the surge in energy prices. Meanwhile, employers' associations, unions, and various sectors of the economy are already presenting them with different demands, some of which share a common denominator: a tax cut. In fact, following the round of political talks between the Ministry of the Presidency and the parties in Congress, this Thursday morning it is the turn of the major unions and employers' associations: CCOO, UGT, CEOE, and Cepyme will meet with the Spanish government's economic ministers at the Ministry of Economy.

Catalonia has one undeniable virtue: it knows how to analyze itself. We have reports, commissions, studies, think tanks and high-level debates. But that strength can also become a burden when diagnosis replaces action. We are a country that over-diagnoses. And the time has come to over-execute.

The Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) estimates that the 2025 tax year will close with an increase in tax revenue. According to the latest report published by the agency headed by Cristina Herrero, tax revenues rose by 9.5% in the last year. This growth is explained by a combination of factors. AIReF's analysis details that this year's growth does not depend on a single isolated factor, but rather on a balance between real economic growth—that is, discounting the effect of prices—which accounts for 32% of the increase, and growth that does not take inflation into account, which represents 38%. In addition to these market factors, the Spanish government's decision to reinstate the limits on corporate tax and the full recovery of VAT rates, which had been reduced to mitigate the energy crisis, have been decisive, contributing 27% of the total growth.

In the field of public economics, the maxim that taxes are the price we pay for living in a democracy is well known. However, paying taxes doesn't directly benefit the individual taxpayer, but rather society as a whole, and it's often tempting to think that nothing bad will happen if you don't pay, because someone else will. For this reason, in addition to ensuring a tax administration that facilitates and guarantees effective tax compliance, it's beneficial for governments to foster trust in the public sector, so that people are more willing to pay taxes. This, for example, is what we found in a study conducted jointly with Leo Rizzo and Riccardo Secomandi, professors at the University of Ferrara and associate researchers at the IEB, in the context of the COVID-19 vaccination process.

The clamor from a large part of the business community to reduce the tax burden borne by companies and investors in order to foster innovation, job creation, talent retention, and so on, is a recurring theme. It's difficult not to sympathize with this position, although the demand cannot be to eliminate everything that is bothersome. It's not about abolishing, by the easy route, any of the taxes that generate certain business problems in a general way, but rather about adjusting taxation to specific objectives.

The Spanish Tax Agency has dismantled a network of 38 companies that allegedly defrauded the government of more than €300 million in 2024 through value-added tax (VAT) in the hydrocarbon sector. The scheme, dubbed "Pamplinas Stars," is one of the two largest such cases in Spanish history. The investigation involved 160 agency officials, and five people considered responsible for the criminal organization were arrested. One of these individuals, believed to be the ringleader, is already in prison for alleged crimes against the public treasury, organized crime, and money laundering. In a statement released this Friday, a public holiday in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands but a working day in Spain, the Tax Agency explained that the investigation began in 2024 when the agency started analyzing potential fraud by a wholesale operator who began selling large quantities of fuel.

It's very easy to engage in demagoguery when it comes to taxation. On the one hand, nobody wants to pay taxes voluntarily, despite knowing that if we all refuse, we'll probably all end up losing. On the other hand, things are sometimes quite complicated due to the very legislation itself, which, in its attempt to be refined, becomes very complex, and in the end, some analysts opt for a simplification that serves to argue in favor of abolishing taxes. They often do so by arguing lower your arms Faced with regional tax dumping, the existence of the state tax is overlooked. And sometimes, there is some hidden interest at play, since for the good of the economy These are proposals that always benefit the most powerful classes. For example, based on the idea that taxes are confiscatory, they call for the abolition of the wealth tax, without much consideration of the overall tax system for income and wealth, income from work and capital, or productive and non-productive assets, when in fact, the maximum taxable income for income and wealth is capped at 60%.

The second vice president of the Spanish government and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, has announced that her party, Sumar, will demand that the PSOE create a new tax, which she has called Trump rateRegarding US multinational technology companies, to ensure they pay taxes in Spain. With this tax, Díaz believes the State could guarantee more "fair" competition between large US technology companies and Spanish businesses.

"Catalonia's contribution will be made through a percentage of taxes. We won't keep all the taxes for ourselves." This is how Maite Vilalta, professor of public economics at the University of Barcelona (UB), described the main difference between the proposal for singular financing for Catalonia agreed between the PSC and ERC and the concert model that the Basque Country and Navarre have. Vilalta, who is a member of the group of experts appointed by the Generalitat to design the new model, reiterated that the agreed proposal is very different from the models of the two autonomous communities.

Will 2025 be the year the Treasury will touch the tax benefits? If we go by what is detailed in theAnnual Progress Report on the Structural Fiscal Plan 2025-2028, which the Spanish government sent to Brussels in April, the measure should be on track "no later than" the fourth quarter of this year. The objective would be to reduce some of the tax benefits (deductions and similar) of the current Spanish tax system to increase revenue. Specifically, the aim is to permanently increase public revenue by 0.1% of GDP, which represents approximately €1.6 billion, as a result of modifying tax benefits. "The measure is already underway and there is time to achieve this objective," the Ministry of Finance indicated in the document sent in April to the European executive.

Crossfire between Salvador Isla and Isabel Díaz Ayuso over tax dumping. The Madrid president did not hesitate to respond to the Generalitat's accusation that Madrid practices unfair downward tax competition. And the PP closes ranks with her: "They are attacking the community that contributes the most resources to the common pot," said the economic leader of the Popular Party, Juan Bravo, in a press conference this Monday. In fact, following the statements from Isla this weekend at the ARA, Ayuso has stated that Madrid contributes "70% of the common fund" of the common regime financing system (what is known as the guarantee fund). In this sense, according to the latest data available from the Ministry of Finance corresponding to the year 2023, that year the fund was funded with 116,508 million euros. 70% would mean that Madrid would have contributed more than 80,000 million, although its contribution was 17,201 million.

Only three countries in the European Union collect more than Catalonia from inheritance and gift tax, although there are two autonomous communities in the state—the Balearic Islands and Asturias—that also collect more, according to a study by the Bank of Spain. The report, published on July 1 and titled The possible revenue impact of some hypothetical reforms to the inheritance and gift tax, It points out that all autonomous communities could collect more if they adjusted the rates paid for this tax to the levels they had in 1996, when the Spanish government ceded its management to the autonomous communities.

The Spanish Tax Agency must return €2.198 billion corresponding to 2.33 million 2024 income tax returns filed by Catalan taxpayers, according to data published this Wednesday by the Ministry of Finance. The money to be returned corresponds to the personal income tax (IRPF) returns of the income tax campaign, which opened on April 2 and closed this Monday, June 30.

Although the income tax campaign began on April 2, taxpayers will not be able to receive in-person assistance until June 2, and after that, they will have just 20 business days to receive in-person assistance. This increasingly shortened deadline has drawn criticism from tax experts, who even consider it "a lack of respect" for taxpayers.

"This is nonsense, it's madness," Senator David Pocock asserted. "A country that's proud to be among the world's largest gas exporters, and yet we collect more money from students repaying their loans than from companies with the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT)."

The employers' association Foment del Treball and the Association of Developers and Builders of Catalonia (APCE) have attacked this Monday the decree law agreed between the Government and the comuns that, among other measures, increases the tax on property transfers (ITP) - what is paid when a second-hand property is acquired - in the case of large holders and transactions of more flats. The president of Fomento, Josep Sánchez Llibre, has criticized that the Government has passed the norm without consulting the sector and has added that it will worsen access to housing.