Before the end of 2022, the tax collection for the year had already reached record collection figures in November. The good progress of employment, the high business margins and inflation have triggered production, which already at the end of the penultimate month of the year is above the margin reached in 2021 (223,385 million).
The November collection report from the Tax Agency shows tax revenue in the first eleven months of 2022 of 239,789 million euros, 15.9% more than in the same period of the previous year, which guarantees that the all-time high will be beaten of 2021 .
In fact, the collection figure for November already exceeds by 7,437 million the forecast of tax revenue for the entire year included in the 2022 Budgets (232,352 million) and is only 4,283 million from the forecast updated by the Treasury in October02 (24,352 million) million).
Behind this strong increase in collection there are several factors, among which the good progress of the economy stands out, which, according to what the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has advanced, will grow by more than 5% in 2022, which has a positive impact on employment and business margins.
Added to this is the impact of inflation -responsible for a quarter of the increase in collection, according to the general director of the Tax Agency, Soledad Fernández- and even a certain outcrop of the underground economy, perceptible in the increase in payments with a card and that is recognized by the Bank of Spain itself.
It should be noted that revenue grew despite the tax measures adopted in the energy field to alleviate the effects of inflation, which in the first months of the year have led to a decrease in revenue of 6,149 million euros.
VAT, income tax and corporate income grows in two digits
All the large taxes accumulated double-digit collection increases in the first eleven months of the year, which allowed them to exceed the forecast for the year as a whole. VAT entered 16.2% more thanks to the expansion of consumption derived from the good economic and labor situation, as well as the effect of inflation, which is passed on almost exclusively through this tax.
Personal income tax exceeded the 100,000 million collection threshold for the first time by closing November with income of 102,590 million (16% more), due both to the positive evolution of employment and to increases in pensions and employee salaries. public, which triggered 12.5% of the withholdings made.
26.7% due to the increase in income not subject to withholding, such as economic activities or capital gains, and regulatory changes such as the rise in savings rates (which contributed an additional 339 million) or the reduction in subsidized contributions to pension plans (352 millions).
26.8% driven by higher business profits, especially between banking and energy, both references to the 2021 financial year (when profits grew by 35.8%) and in the first three quarters of 2022 (18.8%).
The Treasury forecasts a new record for 2023
The 2023 Budgets foresee that tax collection will continue to increase this year, when it is expected to reach 262,781 million euros, 7.7% more than the 244,072 million with which it believes it will end 2022.
With an economic growth estimated at 2.1%, the Treasury expects that 2023 will register an increase in personal income tax collection of 7.7%; corporate tax, 7.7%; VAT, 5.9% and special taxes, 8.2%.
