Summary

The year 2020 closed with a collection of 194,051 million euros, 8.8% less than in 2019.

Logically, the year was marked by the pandemic that weighed down economic activity and, with it, tax bases and tax revenues. The tax bases of the main taxes decreased by 7.7%. The fall was greater than that recorded in 2008 and later, although in that case the recession lasted for six years. The decline in bases was, however, less intense than that recorded in other general activity indicators such as nominal GDP or domestic demand, an indicator usually more related to fiscal variables. The main reason for this disparity is found in one of the year's distinctive features: the compensatory role played by public income (salaries, pensions and other benefits, including transfers derived from ERTE). This fact is reflected in the difference observed between the 13.9% decrease in the bases linked to spending and the 3.3% contraction in the bases related to income; In the latter case, if public revenues are subtracted, the fall would be 9.5%. Without the income generated by these rents, collection would have lost around 2 more points.

In addition, income was affected, on the one hand, by the impact of regulatory and management changes and, on the other, by the realization of high fiscal year returns previouse s. As for the former, throughout the year as a whole, the changes with the greatest impact came from measures prior to 2020 or outside of COVID. For their part, the numerous measures that were implemented in 2020 to alleviate the effects of the health situation did not have such a great impact on the overall result, but, given that in most cases they were deferrals in the payments were relevant throughout the year, reaching significant figures in the months of greatest difficulties for companies. In net terms, the effect of all these measures was positive for income. On the other hand, the payment of the high refund requests that had been submitted in 2019 and that were made in 2020 almost completely compensated for it.

Both the bases and the rest of the indicators of economic activity presented the same profile: First, they suffered a sharp drop as a result of strict confinement and subsequently began a recovery that was intense in the initial moments and which moderated after the summer, coinciding with the worsening of the situation and the limitations on mobility. The trajectory of income did not follow the same pattern as activity for two main reasons: due to the gap that normally occurs between the accrual of the tax and its income (the clearest example is the second installment payment of the Corporate Tax that was collected in October what had happened between April and September) and due to the impact that the measures had. approved that involved a deferral of income. Only if the income most associated with the current situation and least affected by these measures is considered (such as monthly income from labor withholdings, VAT and Special Taxes on Hydrocarbons and Electricity) is a coherent evolution observed with the rest of the short-term indicators, with a continuous improvement from the minimum reached between May and June, until reaching a rate close to zero in the early stages of 2021.

Except for personal income tax, income decreased in all major figures . The positive behavior of Personal Income Tax in such an unfavorable context is due, as has been said, to the income from public salaries and pensions, to which was added the comparison with the year 2019 in which the majority of returns linked to the maternity benefit were made. The result was an increase in collection of 1.2%. In the Corporate Tax income fell by 33.2%. A good part of the decrease had to do with the management of refunds (in the 2018 declaration, presented in 2019, the amount of refunds requested was very large). If this negative impact is corrected, together with the positive one provided by some extraordinary income, the decrease would be around 23%, in line with the drop in profits. In VAT the fall was 11.5%, greater in that related to consumer spending. In Special Taxes revenues were 12.1% lower than those registered in 2019. Collection decreased in all figures, but with special impact on the Hydrocarbon Tax (-15.8%).