The increase in prices and the changes introduced in this tax ceded to the Autonomous Regions raised revenues to 649 million euros in 2022
These are not easy times for the auto industry. Auto sales plummeted over the past year, shattering even the most pessimistic market forecasts and hitting the lowest level in nearly a decade. A complex scenario that the Treasury managed to avoid by increasing the revenue from the registration tax by 38.7%, a tribute collected by the Tax Office, which then goes to the Autonomous Communities.
According to year-end figures published yesterday by the agency under the Ministry of Finance – which will be confirmed in February – the collection of this tax amounted to 649 million euros, compared to 467.93 million the previous year. This means that more cars were registered despite fewer cars being sold. Specifically, the Treasury registered 873,021 vehicles last year; This is 25,851 fewer than in 2021, when 898,872 units were registered, according to this statistic.
In total for the year, the average participation price per vehicle was 744 euros, almost 225 euros more than in 2021.
One of the reasons for this increased contribution to the treasury is the changes to the tax that were supposed to come into force in 2021 but were eventually postponed to 2022. These changes implied the introduction of a new vehicle homologation regulation , known as WLTP, is much more demanding in terms of emissions. Under this new formula, many cars that previously did not have to pay tax began to do so. And many others who are more likely to enter the lower sections jumped and had to pay more.
In addition to the impact of these changes, the industry’s leading employers’ organizations also point to the fact that although fewer cars have been sold, a large proportion of citizens who stuck to their purchase decision last year did so to buy vehicles with better technology endowments and equipment then In general they imply higher prices.
It was precisely the price increase at the dealers that was another determining factor for higher registration tax revenues. Especially since it has to be taken into account that, although growth is limited and we are far from the targets, more electric cars are now being sold than before. And these are not taxed for the treasury.
In other words, the effect of inflation and the passing on of the cost increase to the end consumer would also be behind the price increase in the sector, which has also suffered heavily in recent years from the shortage of semiconductor chips.
For example, the average price (including tax) that Spanish consumers paid to buy their car in 2022 was 22,176 euros, a growth of 8.3% compared to the previous year. In December, the average purchase price of a vehicle was 23,443 euros, an increase of 10.6% compared to the last month of last year (20,472 euros).
“Last year, the market was not able to reverse the negative trend, mainly due to the persistent bottlenecks in the supply of vehicles, which strongly influenced dealer activity. In addition, the increase in the price of fuel and of the vehicles themselves have been circumstances that have had a negative impact,” said Faconauto’s Raúl Morales recently.
That same Tuesday, the Spanish Association of Car and Truck Manufacturers (ANFAC) presented its new roadmap for 2023-2025, asking the government for improvements in public support for the purchase of electrified vehicles in Spain and also for tax adjustments to encourage sales of this type promoting vehicles. models due to changes in VAT, corporate income tax or personal income tax.
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.
