Summary

In 2018, tax revenues reached 208,685 million euros, which led to a growth of 7.6%.

The increase compared to 2017 is affected by the change in the VAT filing dates of taxpayers who are included in the Immediate Supply system of Information (SII), a change that took place from July 2017 and that meant a shift in income from 2017 to 2018. If this element is corrected, the income would have increased by 5.4%.

The year 2018 was a year of deceleration of real activity. Real GDP, affiliation or total deflated sales and the number of wage recipients of Large Companies, among other indicators, grew less than in 2017. However, in nominal terms and in particular in the aggregates most related to the evolution of income, such as domestic demand and wage earners, the situation was somewhat different: The first slowed down less than the real GDP and the second grew more than in 2017.

In this environment, the aggregate tax base of the main taxes grew by 2018%, which grew almost a point higher than that of 6,1 2017, illustrating the growing trend that has characterised the evolution of these bases in the last five years and thus exceeding the maximum that achieved in 2007. The income bases increased above what they did in 2017, with more intense growth in the second half of 2018, following the increases in salaries and public pensions approved in the Budgets and the improvement of the profits of companies. On the other hand, from the expense perspective, the bases showed a high pace, but slightly lower than the previous year, in line with the internal demand profile.

The effective rate on income and expenditure remained practically stable in 2018 (grew 0.1%), so taxes accrued on the four main tax figures increased to the same rate as the bases, 6.1%. Adding the rest of figures, accrued taxes grew by 5.7%. Both in one and the other case, growth is very similar to that achieved in 2017 and similar to that recorded by tax revenues once the impact of the SII has been eliminated.

As a result of the above, the growth of tax revenues was concentrated on direct taxes. The collection for Personal Income Tax increased by 7.6%, mainly due to the increase in withholdings on work and gross income from the annual tax return. Income from Corporation Tax grew by 7.3%. The payments in instalments, the main component of the tax, increased by 11.7% due to the good progress of profits, although the growth of the tax was slowed down by the increase in refunds. In indirect taxes, growth, without SII, was more moderate. Income from VAT (corrected by SII) grew by 3.7%, lower than estimated for the final expense subject to the tax due to the high volume of refunds made and the drop in previous periods'revenues. Income from Special Taxes increased by 1.1%. Net income from the Hydrocarbons Tax grew above its consumption, compared to a level of 2017 affected by negative foral adjustments. As is customary, the Tobacco Tax has had an irregular trajectory throughout the year, closing with a drop in income of 1.4%. In the Electricity Tax, income increased by 3.5%, mostly due to the atypical performance of consumption in 2017. In the Coal Tax, revenue fell 13.1% compared to 2017, a year in which, due to the drought, intensive use was recorded as a substitute for electricity generation. In alcohol-related taxes, income decreased slightly. In the rest of figures, he highlighted the Income Tax for Non-Residents, whose income increased by 17.2%. In contrast, in Chapter III (fees and other income), the collection in 2018 was less than that of 0,3 2017, mainly due to the drop in the Canon's revenues due to the use of continental waters for the production of electricity , also affected by the 2017 drought (the year was settled in 2018).