6. Other taxes

The revenues of figures other than the four main amounted to 8,095 million in 2020, 12.6% less than in 2019. The revenue figure accounted for 4.2% of total revenue, the lowest percentage since 2008. Except for environmental taxes and inheritance and gift tax (other revenues in Chapter I), both cases affected by regulatory or management changes in 2019, the rest of the taxes saw their revenues decrease in 2020.

In the Non-Resident Income Tax revenues in 2020 decreased to 1,511 million, the lowest collection since 2014 (Table 6.1). The drop compared to the previous year was 36.2%. In 2019, revenues had already fallen after the strong growth streak that the tax experienced in previous years (between 2015 and 2018 the increase was, on average, more than 17%), but the general situation in 2020 meant that, together with the trends that came from the previous year, the fall was extraordinarily intensified. This was the case with withholdings on real estate acquisitions (affected by the halt in operations) and with annual settlements, which in 2019 already had a negative net result and in 2020 became even more negative. The remaining withholdings, derived mainly from personal capital (and, therefore, closely linked to the distribution of dividends) which in 2019 had only experienced a slight moderation, in 2020 lost more than 30%.

The environmental taxes , which include the figures in Chapter I and the Tax on Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases (Table 6.2), increased by 37.1% in 2020, although this was exclusively due to the comparison with 2019, when revenues were reduced due to the changes brought about by RDL 15/2018. Looking further ahead, and excluding 2019, the 2020 revenue figure was the lowest since these taxes went into effect in 2013. In the figures in Chapter I, the most important is the Tax on the Value of the Production of Electrical Energy, which was the one affected in 2019 by regulatory changes. Royal Decree-Law 15/2018 temporarily abolished this tax in the fourth quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019, both quarters that should have been paid in 2019. From the second quarter of that year, the tax was collected again. The comparison therefore suggests strong growth in 2020 (59.7%). The revenue obtained (1.146 billion) was, however, far from what the tax has traditionally collected (close to 1.5 billion). The decline in wholesale market prices in 2019, exacerbated by the initial lockdown and the subsequent moderation of activity and consumption, which only ceased in the latter part of the year, is the main explanation for the low revenue collection this year. Revenue from the Fluorinated Gas Tax was also lower than in 2019 (-16.7%). It was the third consecutive year of declining revenue. In 2019, the fall was justified by the reduction in rates, but in 2020 it can only be attributed to the situation generated by the pandemic.

As for other figures other than the two main ones in Chapter II of indirect taxation, the most relevant are the Taxes on Foreign Traffic (Table 6.3) and the Tax on Insurance Premiums (Table 6.4). In the first case, revenues in 2020 decreased by 16.2%, in line with the drastic reduction suffered by international trade. In the case of the Tax on Insurance Premiums, revenues remained practically the same as in 2019 (1,543 million in 2020 compared to the previous 1,547 million, 0.3% less). Throughout the year, they also suffered from the general situation, but in the last two months, given the rate hike for 2021 approved in the Budget, there was an advance in operations that improved the overall results for the year.

Revenue from Fees and other revenues of Chapter III fell by 21.2% (Table 0). By component, the decline was 33.3% in rates and 10.5% in other income. The fall in the Rates (Table 6.6) had basically two causes: lower production of hydroelectric power and management problems, some of which are a consequence of the measures taken to combat the pandemic. The first of the causes affected the fee for the use of continental waters for the production of electrical energy and meant that revenues fell by 51.2% compared to 2019, a year in which revenues reached a record. The second cause influenced at different rates; in particular, to the Radioelectric Tax (which was paid a few months late so that about 20 million were collected in 2021), to the Tax for the Issuance of DNI and Passports (affected by the closure of public offices) and to the Telecommunications Tax (in this case for the issuance of refunds that had not been made in 2019). Other income could also have been affected by the closure of offices and the suspension of procedures that was decreed in the early stages of the crisis, although in 2019 there was already a drop in these revenues of a similar order to that observed in 2020.