Accrued taxes and tax revenues

The taxes accrued in 2019 grew by 4.5%, both in the total (Table 1.4) and in the main figures (Table 1.3). This rate represents a slowdown compared to 2018 as a consequence, as has been analyzed, of the slowdown in base growth. Tax revenues grew by only 2%. The difference, which in Chart 1.17 that accompanies this part is reflected in the transition from accrual to cash, is produced, fundamentally, by the existence of extraordinary returns for an amount greater than 2,300 million, returns that were made in 2019, but that were unrelated to the evolution of bases and taxes.

The personal income tax accrued grew by 6.1% in 2019, one point less (5.1%) without the differential quota or family deductions (Table 2.1). The increase is higher than that of the tax base due to the growth of the rate which, as has been seen, is due to the growth of income not subject to withholding.

Withholdings on labor income, which are the main component of the tax, grew by 5.4%, 1.2 points less than in 2018. Withholdings from salaries increased by 5.1%, while those linked to pensions increased by 7% (Table 2.3). The slowdown in the salary part was more intense than in the whole (in 2018 withholdings grew to 6.6%) due to the evolution in the private sector and, specifically, due to the slower pace of job creation. In public salaries and pensions, however, the growth was greater than in 2018. In the first case, withholdings benefited from both the salary increases and the increase in average rates that this increase entailed, resulting in an increase in the accrued tax of 7.6% compared to 5% the previous year. In the second, the situation was very similar to that of 2018 (with similar increases in the average pension and in the effective rate), although the final growth was slightly higher (in 2018 withholdings grew by 6.5%).

In 2019, income from personal income tax amounted to 86,892 million, 4.9% above what was collected in 2018. The low growth in income with respect to personal income tax accrued is due to the realization of the refunds generated by ruling 1462/2018 of the Supreme Court, of October 3, 2018, when declaring income received as maternity benefits exempt from tax. and parenthood. The ruling meant the refund of the tax paid on these incomes in non-prescribed years. The refunds corresponding to the years 2014-2017 began to be paid in December 2018 and continued throughout 2019, although they had nothing to do with the income generated and the tax accrued in those two years. If the amount returned in 2019 is added (1,046 million; Table 1.5) to income, its growth would have been 6.1%, the same increase that is estimated for the personal income tax accrued.

The Corporate Tax accrued grew by 0.8% in 2019 (Table 3.1). Without taking into account the differential fee planned for 2019 (which will be known in the second half of this year), the tax decreased by 5.2%. The difference between one measure and the other is due to the evolution of installment payments, the main component of the tax, which fell by 6.7%, a decrease whose cause is found in the high amount of these payments in 2018 thanks to the behavior of the five large groups mentioned when talking about the bases.

Income from Corporate Tax reached 23,733 million, 4.4% less than in 2018. As happened in the personal income tax, in 2019 extraordinary refunds were made, in this case for an amount greater than 1,200 million (Table 1.5), derived either from sentences or from different credits for conversion of deferred tax assets (the so-called as DTA), and, therefore, without any link with the determinants of the tax in 2019. Without them, collection would have increased by 0.4%, a figure more consistent with accrual.

Apart from these extraordinary returns, cash receipts in 2019 were characterized by the aforementioned decrease in installment payments and by two elements that compensate for this drop: the good results of the positive quota of the annual declaration (corresponding to 2018 and which grew by 10%) and the lower amount of refunds made (544 million less, -6%).

In 2019, the VAT accrued grew the same as the subject expense, 3.4% (Table 4.1). As has been seen, the regulatory modifications were minimal and their impact on the average rate was insignificant.

Cash receipts from VAT amounted to 71,538 million, 1.9% more than in 2018 (Table 4.2). Gross VAT grew by 3.6%, but its impact on total net income was limited by the increase in refunds made (8.2%), which is explained by the strong increases in monthly requests in the first months of the year and due to the greater pace of completion compared to last year.

The Special Taxes accrued grew by 5.5% in 2019 (1.9% in 2018; Table 5.1), but the entire increase was a consequence of the integration of the old regional rate into the special rate of the Hydrocarbon Tax. Without this change in the way of entering this part of the tax and also eliminating the impact of RDL 15/2018 (which declared the consumption of natural gas, diesel and fuel oil used in the production of electrical energy exempt), the taxes accrued by Special Taxes would have decreased by 1%. The Hydrocarbon Tax grew by 12.5% (Table 5.5), but without regulatory or management changes it would have grown by just 0.3%. The meager growth of the main consumption (gasoline and diesel) has already been mentioned, but we must add to this the drop in natural gas consumption (apart from the already mentioned impact of RDL 15/2018). The Tax on Tobacco Products accrued fell by 1.4% compared to the increase of 2.4% in 2018 (Table 5.6). Total consumption decreased by 1% (cigarettes, the main consumption, decreased more, but the decrease was partially offset by the increase in the rest of the tasks). The income accrued from the Electricity Tax remained practically stable compared to 2018 (+0.1%; Table 5.7), thanks to the smaller reductions for large consumers that compensated for the decrease in consumption and the moderate increase in prices. In taxes on alcohol, taxes accrued increased by 2%, with greater growth in Beer than in Alcohol and derived beverages (Tables 5.2 and 5.3). The most negative note was provided by the Coal Tax, which decreased by 68% in 2019 (Table 5.8). The immediate cause was the application of RDL 15/2018 which, by making the use of natural gas for electricity generation more attractive, had a very negative impact on the consumption of coal for that purpose. In the medium and long term, the decision of large producers to abandon this raw material as a source of energy will cause the income in this figure to end up being negligible.

Income from Special Taxes rose to 21,380 million, with an increase of 4.1% compared to 2018. Income without any regulatory change would have decreased by 0.8%, a rate similar to that recorded in the tax accrued.

The other taxes other than the four main tax figures analyzed contributed to the income with 9,265 million, a figure that was almost 10% less than in 2018 (-1,019 million). The decrease is explained, fundamentally, by two taxes: the environmental taxes and the Non-Resident Income Tax . In the first case, most of the decline (-852 million) has its origin in the temporary suppression of the Tax on the Value of Electrical Energy Production in two quarters (fourth quarter of 2018 and first quarter of 2019), a measure contemplated in RDL 15/2018; In the second, the drop was due to the high income that was recorded in 2018 in the annual tax return (Table 6.1). Losses were also recorded in the Other income of Chapter I of direct taxes (-161 million, mostly due to the existence of extraordinary refunds in the Inheritance and Donation Tax derived from court rulings) , in the Other income of Chapter III (-149 million) and in the Tax on Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases (-29 million, almost all due to the rate reduction that began in September 2018). On the contrary, income increased significantly (50.1%, 341 million) in the Rates (Table 6.6), thanks to the Canon for the use of continental waters for the production of electrical energy (which had performed poorly in 2018 due to the 2017 drought; the fee is settled the following year) and the Radioelectric and Telecommunications Taxes (the first for an extraordinary income and the second for the delay in making the returns).