The citizens of Catalonia have received 42 euros less per inhabitant of financing than the national average during the last decade. Specifically, each Catalan has received 2,520 euros a year between 2012 and 2021, below the average for all the autonomous communities, located at 2,562 euros, according to data updated this Monday by the independent Authority for fiscal responsibility (Airef).
The register corresponding to the Valencian Community is even larger: each citizen has received 2,368 euros in these ten years, 194 euros less than the average; or in Andalusia, with 2,405 euros per inhabitant, 157 euros below.
On the opposite side is the Community of Madrid, whose citizens have received an average of 190 euros more since 2012. Financing is understood as the resources provided by the central system, both in terms of payments on account and those managed themselves. by the community and by the Tax Agency.
The (Airef) has just updated its observatory of economic-financial information of the autonomous communities, a tool where it adjusts the indicators to know the income and expenses of each territory. With new data, others adjusted and refined, the independent body analyzes the primary spending indicator and the breakdown into fundamental public services.
In Catalonia, public spending on these essential services is above the national average. In health, 1,438 euros per inhabitant are invested, always taking into account the average of the last ten years, compared to the 1,386 state average. In education, the investment for each Catalan is 901 euros, compared to the 806 average in Spain. And in social services it amounts to 347 euros, compared to 293 euros on average.
In the Community of Madrid, however, public spending on essential services is below the state average, always taking the updated Airef tool as a reference. In this way, each person from Madrid has spent an average of 1,364 euros per year on health and 800 euros on education in the last decade. In the case of social services, the investment has been 295 euros.
Taking health spending as a reference, it can be seen that it is above the national average, in addition, in Catalonia, in the Valencian Community (1,458 euros per inhabitant in the last decade), the Basque Country (1,697 euros), Navarra (1,592 euros), Murcia (1,571 euros), Extremadura (1,505 euros), Castilla y León (1,452 euros), Cantabria (1,576 euros), Asturias (1,536 euros) or Aragón (1,433 euros), among others. Among the autonomous communities that invest less than the state average in health are, in addition to Madrid, Andalusia (1,197 euros), Castilla-La Mancha (1,371 euros) and the Balearic Islands (1,382 euros).
If spending on education is analysed, Andalusia (with 1,002 euros per inhabitant), Cantabria (1,005 euros), Extremadura (973 euros), Murcia (1,009 euros), the Valencian Community (916 euros), Navarra (1,067 euros) and the Basque Country (1,309 euros) exceed the national average. On the opposite side are, in addition to Madrid, Asturias, with an investment of 771 euros per citizen, Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León, with 844 euros.
Finally, with regard to social services, the communities that spend the most per capita are, in addition to Catalonia, Asturias, Cantabria, Extremadura, Navarra and La Rioja.
In the income section, it can be seen, always taking the update of the Airef tool as a reference, how some communities enjoy higher-than-average tax benefits. This is the case of Madrid, which would collect 1.87% more of the GDP if it had not subsidized the wealth tax and had not eliminated its own taxes. This percentage represents a significant loss of funding. Cantabria, the Canary Islands, Andalusia and La Rioja are also above the national average (0.65%) in downward tax capacity.
Catalonia is failing to collect 0.62% of its GDP, below the average, but it also has the highest upward collection capacities in Spain. This means that Catalan citizens have a greater tax burden both in ceded and their own taxes. Specifically, 1.13%, when the national average is 0.63% of GDP, according to the data corresponding to 2021. The key to this data for Catalonia are the property transfer taxes, documented legal acts and of certain means of transport, which exceed the national average.
