Spain has collected €26 million for the financial transactions tax known as the “Spanish Tobin Tax” in the first ten months of this year, falling far short of the €372 million forecast for the whole year, an official report has revealed.
The so-called “Spanish Tobin tax” on financial transactions imposes a 0.2% levy on operations involving the sale or purchase of shares in companies listed on the Spanish stock exchange, IBEX-35, with a stock market value above €1 billion.
However, experts have warned that the low collection rate would make it difficult for the government to achieve its fiscal targets.
The same goes for the digital services tax levied on targeted online advertising, online intermediation services and the sale of data obtained from user-provided information.
By October, the collection rate was at €73 million, reaching just 32% of this year’s €225 million target, with the last quarterly payment still to be made, data from a report released on Friday (2 December) revealed.
Experts warned that these figures, included in the Spanish budget, are far from the initial collection targets – €850 million for financial transactions and €968 million for digital services – which were significantly lowered following several changes introduced in the parliamentary process.
According to the Tax Agency’s latest report released on Friday, fiscal measures included in the State Budget for 2021 have raised revenues by €1.255 billion in the first ten months of 2022.
The regulatory changes that brought in the most revenue were those in personal income tax, even in the absence of the second instalment of the tax: the increase in rates for high incomes added €339 million, and the limitation of subsidised contributions to pension plans, €352 million -the annual forecast is €346 and €580 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, the reduction from 100% to 95% of the exemption of dividends and capital gains of the subsidiaries of business groups added another €333 million to the Spanish Treasury, which is still far from the € 1.047 billion initially budgeted.
The VAT increase on sugary and sweetened beverages (€75 million, above the annual target of €60 million), the increase in the rate of tax on insurance premiums (€46 million, close to the target of €52 million) and the imposition of a 15% tax on the undistributed profits of real estate investment companies (SOCIMI) (€11 million) also added more resources, albeit to a lesser extent.
In contrast, the tax measures adopted to alleviate energy inflation deducted €6 billion in revenue from the public coffers, primarily due to the abolition of the tax on the value of electricity (€3.093 billion) and the rest due to the reduction in the excise tax on electricity (€1.705 billion) and VAT on electricity (€1.211 billion), the report reads.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)
Source: euractiv.com
