Households pay 44% of the 21,265 million environmental taxes received, with Spain following the EU
Spain is recovering from the slowdown in “green collection” during the first year of the pandemic due to the lockdown and the slowdown in economic activity for several months. Environmental taxes amounted to 21,265 million euros in 2021, which means an increase of 8.5% compared to the previous year.
However, the figure is still below the €22,000 million exceeded in the two years prior to the outbreak of the health crisis (2018 and 2019). And they continue to place Spain behind the major European economies in terms of environmental collection.
In fact, this type of tax accounted for 7.2% of total taxes on the Spanish economy last year, down from 7.6% in 2020, according to data released this Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
The data corresponds to a year in which the government of Pedro Sánchez hoped to reverse the situation, including within the expected tax reform new measures that, according to the committee of experts, would allow the collection of between 5,900 and 15,000 million euros more with a new tax system green. However, the outbreak of war in Ukraine put those plans on hold.
Among the measures considered at the time, the elimination of the diesel bonus to equalize the tax on gasoline stood out, in addition to creating new figures on access to gas, nitrogen fertilizers and airline tickets. A tribute, the latter, that would ultimately affect the passengers and with which it is expected to raise around 951 million. The plan also includes a tax on kerosene (which is currently untaxed) in the aviation, maritime and agricultural sectors.
Of the total amount collected in environmental taxes in 2021, Spanish households accounted for 44.4% of the payment of these taxes. In concrete terms, they paid 9,449 million euros, 8.5% more than in 2020. The industries in turn paid 55.6% of the total environmental taxes.
It should be borne in mind that the INE groups this type of tax into three categories: taxes on energy, which in 2021 accounted for 82% of the total, transport (13.1%) and taxes on pollution and resources (4.9%) .
All of them recorded remarkable growth compared to 2020. Specifically, taxes on energy increased by 8.9% to EUR 17,434 million, while those on transport increased by 5.8% to EUR 2,784 million and taxes on pollution and resources by 9 .9% to 1,047 million euros.
The industries that paid the most environmental taxes in 2021 were Transport and Storage (17% of the total) and Electricity, Gas, Steam and Water and Manufacturing (10.6%). On the contrary, those who paid the least were the extractive industries and agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing (with 0.9% and 1.3% of the total, respectively).
Source: La Verdad
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
