Catalonia, where more is paid for having a house

Catalonia, where more is paid for having a house

Although Tarragona, Gerona and Lérida are the capitals where the type of IBI is more burdensome, the highest income per inhabitant through this tax is collected by the municipalities of Madrid, Castellón and León

  Tarragona, Lérida and Gerona are the three provincial capitals in which the most is paid by IBI (Real Estate Tax) taking into account the local tax rates. For Tarragona City Council, a 0.953% tax applies, in Lérida 0.943% and in Gerona 0.907%. However, it is noteworthy that these three capitals are not at the top of the list in which their inhabitants pay more for the Real Estate Tax, which is Madrid (438.9 euros per person), Castellón (419.8 euros) ) and León (407.3 euros), probably due to the higher value of the properties themselves. On the contrary, the three capitals where less is paid is Albacete (0.452%), Malaga (0.451%) and Toledo (0.446%). In the lower positions of the table regarding the income of the municipalities for IBI per inhabitant, are Bilbao (148.9 euros),

In the study 'Panorama of local taxation 2018' prepared by the Registry of Tax Advisors Economists (REAF) it is noted that with the IBI-mandatory tax on which the municipalities have a remarkable regulatory capacity-the municipalities get 28% of their total income and "is the tax that has sustained a good part of its financing during the crisis".



María José Portillo, economist and professor of Applied Economics at the University of Murcia who has led the study, said during the presentation on Tuesday in Madrid that most of the collection of the municipalities comes from the IBI, "without distinction between large and small municipalities, so for all the IBI is the main source of funding ». For example, for Valencia it represents 69.4% of the income that they expect to obtain for this tax in 2018, and in Ciudad Real it increases to 78%.

Therefore, one of the conclusions of the study is that since the IBI is the most important tax from the collection point of view and has the advantage that its collection is counter-cyclical, it can not be ignored that many properties are taxed by this tax in the IRPF through the imputation of income if they are available to their owners, and in the Wealth Tax. "Therefore, it would be desirable to review this situation in the context of a tax reform of wealth," they say.

A smaller local administration

On the other hand, economists call attention to the fact that the size of the Spanish local administration is lower -6% of GDP-than the average of EU countries -11.1% -, with a higher tax rate in its financing -52.9% in Spain by 38.1% in the EU-, more surplus and lower indebtedness.

Regarding the efficiency of the collection management, which is calculated taking into account the Budgets, the rights recognized (what is expected to be collected) and the final collection, varies greatly according to the communities. The highest tax collection efficiency in the IBI is in the Basque Country (96.2%) and the lowest in Andalusia (77%). "To the extent that it moves away from 100% is a management problem, which may be due to disparate circumstances," explained Portillo.

Therefore, with the objective of separating the resources of the local haciendas from the real estate sector, alternative sources of financing could be sought, according to the fiscal body of the General Council of Economists of Spain. Its president, Valentin Pich, has admitted that "even recognizing the current institutional circumstances", it is not good news that there is no proposal on the table for reforming regional financing. And, in his opinion, this change would allow reordering and clarifying all taxation, both regional and local, and undertake the modernization of environmental taxation.