Effective rates

The effective rate income and expenditure in 2022 is estimated to have been 15.3%, unchanged from the previous year ( ). The estimate is provisional until the year 2022 is completed with the annual declarations of personal income tax and corporate tax, which will be known, for the most part, between June and July. Based on the information available, the average rate remained stable, although with very different developments in income and expenditure. The average rate associated with income increased by 4.3%, due to the increase in the rate on salaries and pensions as a result of the increase in average incomes, and, for another year, due to the loss of weight in household income of unemployment benefits with a rate close to zero. For its part, the average rate associated with the expense decreased by 5.5%, due to the reductions in the VAT rate on electricity and natural gas, the lowering of the rate (from 5.11% to 0.5%) in the Special Tax on Electricity and the strong increase in prices in Hydrocarbons and Electricity, which was the main cause of the increase in the value of its consumption.

In personal income tax, the effective rate rose by 4.6% to 14.1% ( Table 2.1 ). The increase in the rate was due to the increase in average incomes in salaries and pensions, in turn caused by the revisions derived from the inflationary process that began at the end of the previous year and, in the case of pensions, by the incorporation of new pensioners into the system with higher average pensions. In addition, unemployment benefits, which have almost zero average rates, continued to lose importance, which also pushed up the total effective rate.

The effective rate on the corporate tax base remained practically stable (+0.2%; Table 3.1 ), so this rate in 2022 was the same as that already observed in 2017. The rate on profits is expected to rise by 3.5%. However, in 2022 it will still be lower than before 2018.

It is estimated that the effective VAT rate remained practically unchanged (-0.3%, Table 4.1 ), despite the regulatory changes that had an impact on the rate: the reduction of the VAT rate on electricity (from 21% to 10% until June 2022 and a new reduction from 10% to 5% from July), the reduction of the VAT rate from 21 to 5% applicable to natural gas, the wood and pellets, the maintenance of the rate reduction on surgical masks and type 0 on essential health materials to combat COVID 19, vaccines and PCR and the rate increase on sugary and sweetened beverages. The combined impact of these measures would amount to 1.38 billion ( Table 1.5 ).

The average effective rate of excise taxes, calculated as the proportion of the tax accrued in relation to the value of consumption, fell by 27.2%, falling to its lowest level. As noted in all reports, this rate is included only for the purpose of completing the analysis of bases, rates and income, but it is not the rate that is applied (in several figures the base is made up of physical consumption and only in two -tobacco and electricity- the value is important). Furthermore, in the absence of regulatory changes, this effective rate moves in the opposite direction to the prices of energy products, which determine the value of consumption. In 2019 and 2020, these prices decreased, leading to an increase in the rate, and in 2021 and 2022 they increased sharply, leading to a sharp decline in the rate.