Tax burden still at pre-crisis levels
Madrid/Palma.—Despite hikes in both income tax rates and value-added tax, Spain is one of the few wealthy countries in the world to have a lower overall tax burden now than before the economic crisis, a new report from the OECD shows.
While Spanish income tax rates and value-added tax (VAT) rates have climbed since 2012, Spain is one of only three countries in the 34-member OECD where the tax-to-GDP ratio is still below 2007 levels.
The tax burden in Spain in 2013 was 32.6 percent, up from 22.1 percent 12 months earlier.
However, it remained 3 percent lower than pre-crisis levels.
Spain came 21st out of 34 member countries in terms of the tax to GDP ratio in 2012, or the latest year for which data is available for all OECD countries. In that year Spain had a tax to GDP ratio of 32.1 percent compared with the OECD average of 33.7 percent.
In 2012, 30 percent of Spain’s tax earnings came from tax on income, profits and capital gains while 36 percent derived from social security contributions.
Revenue from VAT made up 16.6 percent of all tax earnings in 2012, below the OECD average of 19.5 percent.