3.2. Net tax collection
The net tax collection is the gross revenue net of refunds paid, including adjustments with the Basque provinces and Navarre. Moreover, it corresponds, to recording on a cash basis, unlike other items such as recognised rights or taxes for the purpose of National Accounting. Total Net Tax Revenue reached the level of €272 billion in 2023, 6.4% above the prior year. The difference between the growth in net and gross income analysed in the previous section can be explained by the evolution of the returns made, which in 2023 increased by 4.3%, which meant the realisation of 2.8 billion more than in 2022.
Also, in the Table 13. Total net tax collection the strong hit from tax rates slashing (more than €5,600 million loss in Personal Income Tax Chart 14. Trend in tax collected managed by the Tax Agency (Annex), this information is developed.
The Table 15. Adjustments for the impact of regulatory changes (Annex) presents, in detail, the measures that took effect during the year and their impact on the different taxes.
As mentioned in the previous section, revenues grew due to the increase in the bases, particularly those linked to income, and were limited by tax reductions in IRPF and VAT. The aggregate tax base for the main taxes grew by 7.6%, as a result of a 10.6% increase in income and a more moderate growth in expenditure (up by 3.6%), due in particular to the fall in energy prices, which reduced the value of consumption subject to special taxes. This behaviour of the bases explains why the increase in revenue from direct taxes reached 10.1% in 2023, with a contribution of 5.7 points to the 6.4% growth in revenue, while the rest of the figures evolved in a more moderate manner (indirect taxes and fees grew by 1.7%). For its part, the set of all regulatory and management changes with effect from 2023 subtracted 3,342 million from revenues, which implies that, without measures, revenue collection would have increased by 7.8%, a rate close to that of the bases.
Regarding the effect of the measures, it should be remembered that, for this purpose, the impact is measured in differential terms with respect to the previous year; That is, due to the effect that changes have on the rate of variation in income. As indicated above, the estimated impact assumes that, without these measures, revenues would have grown by 1.4% more.
By figures, the greatest impact was on IRPF with a cost of 3,841 million. Almost everything comes down to two measures. The first is the increase in the reduction for work income, which represented a loss of 1,726 million in withholdings for the year. The effect was seen above all in SMEs and pensions, where low-income earners, who are the beneficiaries of the measure, are more present. However, the impact of the measure was also detected in large companies, something that had not happened in other cases with similar changes. The second is the group of various measures that were approved by the CC. AA. in the part of the IRPF over which they have jurisdiction and which were mainly aimed at offsetting the effects of inflation. The character of the tax was very different in the different territories, although it basically consisted of raising the family minimums, partially deflating the rate and approving new deductions or expanding existing ones. Every year the CC. AA. They exercise these powers, but never with such a marked impact as in 2023. The negative impact on net income was valued at 1,677 million. The rest of the measures have a very different origin. Those included in the General State Budget Law for 2023 (improvement of the maternity deduction and measures to reduce the tax on personal entrepreneurs) meant a loss of 215 million, while those coming from previous regulations (modification of the limits on contributions to pension plans and the deduction for rehabilitation works for energy efficiency) reduced income by 30 million. The annual declaration also included changes approved at the start of the campaign to exceptionally reduce the yields on which farmers pay taxes in objective estimation. Finally, the modification of the regulation of deferrals in order to facilitate them entailed a deferral of income amounting to 33 million and measures from other years with consequences in 2023 of a higher collection of 6 million.
VAT was, in relation to income, the figure most affected by the regulatory changes. The impact is estimated at 3,097 million, which represents 3.7% of the revenue collected in 2022. Of these, 2.452 billion were the result of rate cuts on energy, basic food, feminine hygiene products and contraceptives. The highest cost (1.703 billion) was caused by the reduction in rates, since January 1, on food (to 0% on products that were taxed at the super-reduced rate of 4% and from 10% to 5% on oils and pasta). In energy (electricity and gas) the 728 million impact refers to the differential effect with respect to the situation in 2022. This is the case for all the measures evaluated in Table 15, although it is important to note this at this point because the measures were already in force in previous years. In the electricity sector, the loss of income is being measured as the 5% rate was in force throughout 2023 compared to 2022, when that rate was only in force for half a year, and the other half year the rate was 10%. In the case of gas, the year 2023 is compared with the reduction in the rate throughout the year compared to the three months of 2022 in which the measure was present. This also applies to the Electricity Tax and the Tax on the Value of the Production of Electrical Energy. For these two taxes, the 2021 and 2022 measures were extended under the same conditions to 2023 and, therefore, no cost appears in Table No. 15. Other measures also implied a significant reduction in VAT collection: The change in deferrals meant that income amounting to 285 million was shifted to 2024, and some extraordinary refunds resulted in a loss of 421 million.
In the Corporate Tax the impact was positive (2,645 million). Around 1 billion came from the different amounts of extraordinary refunds in 2022 and 2023; In 2022, almost 2.3 billion were returned (for sentences and DTA) and in 2023 only 1.3 billion were returned (for DTA). As regards the regulatory measures themselves, in 2023 the minimum rate of 15%, approved in the 2022 General State Budget, came into effect in the annual declaration for groups and for companies with a turnover equal to or greater than 20 million euros, and, with effect only in 2023, the taxable base for the groups' fractional payments was calculated by adding the positive bases and 50% of the negative bases of the companies belonging to those groups. The first increased revenue by 596 million, while the second raised it by 1,098 million. Regarding the latter, it should be noted that its effect on the base was much greater than that reflected in payments. The measure represented a positive adjustment of more than 11.5 billion, although only 6 billion translated into a larger tax base and, of these, just over 3.8 billion were transformed into a higher payment. These differences are produced by the existence of three types of groups: those that had a negative base even with the adjustment; those who paid according to their base, but who without the adjustment would have had a negative base; and those who, despite the adjustment, continued to pay the minimum payment and for whom, consequently, the adjustment had no impact on the payment.
Of the other measures, two taxes that were introduced in 2023 stand out: the Tax on Non-Reusable Plastic Packaging (591 million) and the Temporary Solidarity Tax on Large Fortunes (623 million). In addition, in 2023 the fee for the use of inland waters for the production of electrical energy was recovered (81 million), which was not in force in 2022 following a ruling that annulled its previous configuration. The extraordinary refunds corresponding to the Non-Resident Income Tax (more than 450 million) also had a significant impact, although it was partially offset by the existence of other extraordinary movements in 2022. Finally, a small positive impact is computed in the Tax on Financial Transactions and in the Tax on Certain Digital Services derived from the fact that in December 2022 the adjustments with the regional territories for two years were regularized, while the adjustment in 2023 corresponded to only one year.