The keys to the personal income tax reduction in Catalonia: who will benefit?

The tax reduction promoted by the Generalitat will be the main change in fiscal policy in Catalonia for years.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
03 December 2023 Sunday 21:21
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The keys to the personal income tax reduction in Catalonia: who will benefit?

The tax reduction promoted by the Generalitat will be the main change in fiscal policy in Catalonia for years. Although the Government needs to have the support of other political groups, it is assumed that the measure will go ahead. Although the exact details of the law accompanying the budgets where the regulatory change will appear are not known, the main keys of the measure have been revealed, as La Vanguardia has reported.

It is a reduction in the regional scale rate in the first tax bracket (from 0 to 12,450 euros) by one point: from the current 10.5% to 9.5%.

It is 125 euros per year, which in some cases represents around a 10% decrease in what was paid on the regional scale.

Citizens with a tax base equal to or greater than 33,000 euros. There are a total of 2.6 million people, which represents 73% of the total taxpayers. The gross income to reach that taxable base is around 35,000 euros.

Nothing. The measure has a neutral effect since the Government wants to slightly raise rates in the high band so that the remaining 27% of taxpayers pay exactly the same as until now.

Yes, it reduces the tax brackets of the regional scale from the current nine to eight.

So that the limits between sections are greater and thus prevent a salary increase to compensate for the runaway inflation of recent months from causing some taxpayer to end up paying a higher rate than until now. An increase in income can sometimes lead to a step jump by receiving a higher salary to compensate for inflation. That process involves paying more taxes.

January 1st. As the forecast is that the budgets will not be approved before the end of the year, the measure would be retroactive from the beginning of 2024 when it is approved.

Yes. The highest taxation ranking in personal income tax is headed - as can be seen in the attached graph - by Asturias, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. Then there is a group with the same type in which, in addition to Catalonia, there are Aragon, Cantabria, both Castiles and Murcia. In the rest, taxation will be lower than that of Catalonia. The regional communities of Navarra and the Basque Country do not appear.

The Minister of Economy, Natàlia Mas, wants to use the flexibility of the deficit target and the higher income from the “investiture agreement” with the PSOE “to alleviate, to the extent possible, the pressures on the cost of living of the families".