Summary

Tax collection reached 223.385 billion euros in 2021, 15.1% more than in 2020 .

The comparison with 2020, a year conditioned by the effects of the pandemic, does not allow a clear assessment of the evolution of tax collection in 2021. Therefore, it is better to do the comparative analysis with the income from 2019. Collection in 2021 exceeded that of two years ago by 5%, with positive results in the main figures (IRPF, Corporate Tax, VAT) with the only exception of Special Taxes.

The positive evolution of the tax bases , with an estimated growth of 12.7%, was the fundamental cause of the increase in revenue. Compared to 2019, the increase in bases was greater than 4%. The trajectory of the bases throughout the year was, logically, determined by the comparison with what happened in 2020. The year began with moderate growth due to the continued existence of restrictions on mobility and activity, but rebounded sharply in the second quarter in response to the sharp drop in activity that occurred the previous year, and remained at rates slightly above 13% in the second half of the year. Both income before taxes and expenses subject to VAT closed the year with levels higher than those reached in 2019 (5.4% for the former, 3% for the latter). In the case of consumption subject to excise tax alone, the progress achieved in 2021 was not enough to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

There were numerous regulatory and management changes affecting revenues in 2021, but their net impact was insignificant. The measures are estimated to have resulted in a loss of 501 million euros compared to the previous year.

The economic context was characterised by a constant improvement in activity and a rise in prices. After a problematic start marked by the effects of the third wave of infections and the impact of storm Filomena, the evolution of the main activity indicators was in continuous progress, especially in the second half of the year. Real GDP, which in the first quarter showed a decline of 0.5% compared to the last quarter of 2020, increased by an average of 2.4% in the second half of the year. Even so, at no point did real GDP exceed the 2019 figures. For its part, membership began to register growth compared to 2019 figures from June onwards and the figure for December was already 2% higher than that of the same month of that year, although the comparison continued to be conditioned by the validity of the ERTE. Something similar was observed in daily sales provided by the Immediate Supply of VAT Information system , the closest available indicator to the present. Until the end of March, sales were even lower than in 2020, but after that month, sales began to recover and since August they have been decidedly above those of 2019, ending the year with growth of more than 20% compared to 2020 and 4% compared to 2019 as a whole. The improvement in daily sales was influenced by both the real component and price increases, which became more pronounced as the year progressed. Industrial prices (excluding energy) had begun to recover pre-pandemic growth rates in the last months of 2020 and from the first months of 2021 they showed a clear upward trend, although this was not reflected in the core of consumer prices until the second half of the year. Energy prices have also been increasing sharply since March. The end result was that, although the CPI only rose by 3.1% on average over the year (0.8% for the underlying price), the highest increases in many years have been recorded in recent months.

Revenues increased for all major figures and, except for II.EE., the amounts collected in 2019 were exceeded . Income in the IRPF grew by 7.5%, after being one of the few figures that grew in 2020 due to the contribution of public income (wages, pensions, transfers linked to ERTE and aid to the self-employed). In the Corporate Tax revenues increased by 67.9%, 12.2% compared to 2019, thanks to the strong recovery of profits and, with them, the fractional payments. In VAT the growth was 14.5% (+1.3% if the comparison is made with 2019), in line with the recovery of subject spending. The Excise Taxes grew by 5%, but the recovery in consumption was not sufficient and they closed the year with revenues 7.7% lower than in 2019.