Daniel Viaña Madrid
Madrid
Updated Wednesday, April 3, 2024-02:35
In Spain there are just over eight million taxpayers who declare between 21,000 and 60,000 euros
in income tax
. 8.1 million, specifically, who represent the Spanish working middle class and who together
pay 50,000 million
euros per year for personal income tax. They are, therefore, the largest payers of the main tax in the tax system.
So much so that, according to the latest figures collected by the General Council of Economists and referring to 2021 (the last year for which there are figures by income brackets), those 50,000 million are more than half of the total collection that was achieved that year. . Next are taxpayers with incomes between 60,000 and 150,000 euros, who, being less than one million, contribute more than 21,000 million. Then there are the taxpayers who declare income between 150,000 and 600,000, who add up to 123,000 settlements and their contribution shoots up to 10,000 million.
Taxpayers who declare between 12,000 and 21,000 euros, which is a total of 4.5 million, contribute just over 7.6 billion through personal income tax. And the barely 12,000 citizens who declare more than 600,000 euros pay 6.5 billion euros.
The fact that the middle class is the big payer of the big tax, moreover, has only become more accentuated in recent years and will continue to be so in the coming years. Also, of course, in the 2023 personal income tax, which from today begins to be settled in the income campaign. Starting this April 3 and until July 1, taxpayers will be able to file their returns online. Citizens who wish to prepare their declaration with telephone help will be able to do so starting May 7, and in-person assistance will begin on June 3.
No tax relief in personal income tax
They will continue to be the largest payers of the tax because, among other things, no type of tax relief has been applied to personal income tax for these incomes. A very clear help, and one that is widely recommended in economic manuals, would have been tax deflation, its adaptation to inflation. But the Ministry of Finance of María Jesús Montero has always refused and, consequently, has applied a hidden tax increase. This has caused a double punishment for taxpayers. Because, on the one hand, the wage increases they have registered have been, in the vast majority of cases, below inflation and they have lost purchasing power; and, on the other hand, because the Treasury has demanded a higher personal income tax payment.
The highest effective rate
Precisely for this reason, as EL MUNDO published yesterday, the average effective rate of the Personal Income Tax in 2023 was the highest in history: 14.3%. "The reality is that Spaniards pay more personal income tax than ever, and the global effective rate of the main taxes is also the highest in history," explained the Treasury inspector and tax expert, Francisco de la Torre. This, evidently, has affected the large tax payers in a very direct and sensitive way.
There are no deductions either.
Another situation that has only influenced the tax penalty for middle incomes is the end of practically all the tax deductions to which they were entitled in the past. A very important one was the one that was applied for the purchase of a habitual residence, but the financial and brick crisis took away that great aid, just as it did with the credits for 100% of the value of the house in question that offered by banking entities.
And the deductions for contributions to individual pension plans have also remained practically nothing. When Pedro Sánchez arrived at Moncloa, the limit was 8,000 euros, but the Executive reduced the figure first to 2,000 euros and, finally, to 1,500 euros. The reason given is that it was preferable to transfer this tax benefit to employment plans, which are pension plans offered by companies to their workers. The problem is that these vehicles are not at all widespread among the Spanish business community.