Summary

In 2023, tax revenues reached 271,935 million euros, 6.4% more than what was collected in 2022 .

This increase in revenue came after two years of strong growth, over 15% in 2021 and 14% in 2022. But it must be remembered that both years had atypical characteristics, the first because it was after the lockdown and the second because of the comparison with a period that had not yet fully returned to normality and, furthermore, in the midst of an inflationary process.

Income grew due to the increase in bases, particularly those linked to income, and was limited by tax reductions in Personal Income Tax and VAT . Main tax bases went up by 7.6%. Incomes increased by 10.6%, with sharp increases across the board, but especially in the corporate tax base. Spending remained more moderate (up 3.6%) due mainly to the fall in energy prices, which reduced the value of consumption subject to excise taxes; Expenditure subject to VAT , on the other hand, rose 7.1% for the year as a whole. The reductions in Personal Income Tax and in VAT represented a loss of more than 4,150 million, although together all the regulatory changes and management subtracted 3,342 million from the income, which means that, without measures, collection would have increased by 7.8%, a rate close to that of the bases .

The increase in revenue occurred in a context of progressive moderation of activity, but high growth in nominal variables . GDP in volume closed the year with an increase of 2.5%, after growing by 4.1% year-on-year in the first quarter and slowing down to around 2% in the rest of the year. This change is largely explained by the disappearance of the contribution that external demand was making up until the first quarter. A similar trend was observed in the main fiscal indicators. Both daily domestic sales and monthly sales of Large Companies to a constant population and quarterly sales of Large Companies and SMEs corporates, deflated and corrected for seasonal and calendar variations, offered the same panorama, with a gradual downward trend only altered in the last part of the year. However, in nominal terms the situation was different. A slowdown was also observed, although not in all variables that influence income and always with higher rates due to price increases, in any case, significantly lower than those of 2022. Nominal GDP growth stood at 8.6 for the year a whole. Domestic demand and household consumption expenditure, also domestic, grew somewhat less (6% for the former and 7.1% for the latter), both in the context of increased income, and employee remuneration, a key variable for monitoring labour retentions, exceeded the 2022 figures by 8.8%.

As a result of the evolution of the bases and the impact of regulatory changes, there was a notable divergence between the 10.1% growth recorded by direct taxes ( Personal Income Tax , Corporate Tax, Non-Resident Income Tax, environmental taxes and others of little significance to the State) and the 1.7% increase in revenue from indirect taxes (including fees and other income). The IRPF grew by 9.9% as a result of the increase in employment, wage and pension increases, the increase in the effective rate (despite the reduction in tax on lower incomes) and the increases in withholdings for capital gains and in the instalment payments by personal companies. In the Corporate Tax revenues increased by 9%, driven by the growth in profits of Large Companies and groups in 2023 (which resulted in an increase of over 15% in fractional payments) and the positive share of the annual declaration for the 2022 financial year; The high amount of refunds made, mostly corresponding to the 2021 financial year, slowed down a further increase in the tax. Collection from VAT grew by 1.6%, well below spending, due to regulatory and management measures that reduced income in more than 3,000 million. Excise Taxes increased by 2.6% thanks to the Tax on Non-Reusable Plastic Packaging, new in 2023; Without it, the collection would have been almost the same as in 2022.