Spain has more and more citizens with huge fortunes, exceeding 30 million euros. Despite this, fewer and fewer of them pay the traditional wealth tax, writes the Spanish daily “El Pais”. The government has announced that it will introduce new taxes to curtail privileges for the wealthiest people in the country.
In 2022 in Spain 852 people were registered with assets exceeding EUR 30 million, which was an increase of 2.5 percent year on year – according to data from the national tax office cited by “El Pais”.
The lowest result in history
The daily also notes that only 235 of them, or slightly more than a quarter, paid the traditional wealth tax, which is the lowest percentage result in the history of this statistics. Some autonomous communities, led by Madrid, introduced wealth tax reliefs that significantly reduced its amount. In the case of the capital and Andalusia, the relief was even 100 percent.
Announcement of new taxes
In response to regional relief, the central government introduced a solidarity tax on large fortunes in 2022, which will apply temporarily from 2022 to 2024, and will apply to people with net wealth exceeding €3.7 million. However, the rules allow for a deduction of amounts paid under the traditional wealth tax. Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez announced on Wednesday that the government will introduce new taxes for the richest. “We are going to tax those who already have enough money in the bank to live a hundred lives,” the head of government said, as quoted by “El Pais.”
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