Introduction

In 2019, tax revenues rose to 212,808 million euros, 2% higher than in 2018 .

The year was characterised, among other factors, by the impact of regulatory and management measures which led to a reduction in revenue of around 3.8 billion (almost 70% due to extraordinary returns, regardless of the evolution of bases and taxes). Without this impact, revenues would have increased by 3.8% , four-tenths above the growth in domestic demand (3.4%) and close to the 4% increase estimated for the aggregate tax base.

The economic context in 2019 was one of slowdown. The general real indicators (GDP, affiliates) moderated their growth as the year progressed. The same could be observed in the indicators constructed from fiscal information (total sales deflated and number of salary earners in large companies and corporate SMEs), although in this case it was observed that the slowdown slowed down in the central months of the year. At the same time, consumer prices grew less than in 2018, with underlying inflation rising slightly in recent months, although not exceeding 1% increases. The same downward trend was reflected in income, a trend that was only altered by the presentation of positive quotas in the annual declarations in the middle of the year. This gradual slowdown in growth was accentuated by the comparison with the upward step caused by the increases in public salaries and pensions approved in the Budgets in July 2018, which meant that in 2019 there was high growth in income in the first half of the year and more moderate growth in the second.

Under these conditions, the growth in collection was concentrated, fundamentally, in the income from labor withholdings and gross VAT, to which were added, as has been said, the good results in the contributions to be paid from the declarations. annual reports corresponding to the 2018 financial year, particularly in personal income tax.