The State stopped collecting 1,705 million in 2022 due to the reduction of the Electricity Tax

The Tax on Alcohol and Derived Beverages registered an increase of 34.5%, in line with the advance in consumption and prices

MADRID, 7 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The collection of the Special Tax on Electricity fell by 79% in 2022, to 228 million euros, compared to the previous year as a result of the drastic drop in the rate -from 5.11% to 0.5%- that entered into force in mid-September 2021 and successively extended throughout the past year.

As can be seen from the 2022 Excise Tax Report published by the Tax Agency, the estimated revenue impact of this reduction in 2022 reaches 1,705 million euros. In addition, the agency points out that electricity consumption registered a decrease, dragged down by the strong growth in prices.

The economic environment in 2022 was characterized by the presence of high inflation and a marked increase in energy prices during the first part of the year. For this reason, the Executive branch approved several packages of measures, including reductions in taxes related to electricity or energy production.

In this scenario, the collection from Special Taxes reached the figure of 20,224 million, 2.5% more than in 2021, without yet recovering the level of 2019. If the calculation is made without taking into account the aforementioned Tax on Electricity, affected due to the measures to reduce the price of energy, then revenues did slightly exceed those of that year.

Together with the taxes related to environmental taxation, the income of the figures covered by this report totaled 20,447 million, below the figure for 2021 (-3.5%) and very far from the data for 2019, when In addition to the rate reduction mentioned above, the abolition of the Electricity Production Value Tax, also within the package of measures to contain electricity prices.

Excise Taxes were the ones that, among the big figures, registered the lowest growth in 2022. However, the behavior was uneven between the different figures. In 2022, the consumption of all products subject to these taxes increased, with the exception of electricity, whose consumption fell due to the sharp rise in prices.

In some cases (alcohol, cigarettes and beer), consumption registered strong increases, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. However, in the case of fuels, the increase in consumption was softer, and remained below the levels of 2019, weighed down by the sharp increase in prices.

In the case of the Tax on Hydrocarbons, its collection increased (4.3%), but at a slower rate than in 2021 (11.3%) and has not yet reached the level of 2019, except in the case of gasoline. Although consumption continues to recover, it has slowed down due to the sharp rise in prices, which have reached all-time highs, according to the Tax Agency.

The collection of the Tax on Coal, for its part, broke its downward trend of previous years and increased, although it maintains a residual role within the system -it only collected 58 million-, once its use was abandoned in the generation of electricity by the largest producers, according to the Treasury.

With regard to environmental taxation, the collection of these taxes plummeted from 1,398 million in 2021 to 128 million euros in 2022, which represents a 90.1% drop in just one year.

The Tax Agency report shows that its collection was substantially reduced in 2022 due to the suppression of the Tax on the Value of Electricity Production throughout the year within the framework of measures aimed at moderating the price of electricity. It was also harmed by the making of extraordinary refunds in the Tax on the Production of Spent Nuclear Fuel.

On its side, there was an increase in revenue from the Tax on Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases in 2022 of 45.4% to 95 million euros as a result of the regulatory change that came into force in September 2022.

The report reflects that the Tax on Alcohol and Derived Beverages registered a strong growth of 34.5%, in line with the advance in consumption, not only exceeding the levels of 2019, but also registering the highest collection accrued since 2007. Something similar This is the case with the Beer Tax, which reached an all-time high in collection, after growing by 9.5% in 2022 to 341 million euros.

The Tax on Tobacco Works registered an increase of 9.3% to 6,682 million euros, already exceeding the figure for 2019, as a result of an increase in both consumption and the average price before taxes. The increase was greater in cigarettes, changing the downward trend that began in 2019.