In Spain, doubts about the decline of the underground economy

To Madrid

It may be a problem of the rich, but it has been pitting economists, public officials and tax officials against each other for the past few weeks. Spain has significantly increased its tax revenues in 2021 and 2022 and specialists are struggling to agree on the reasons for this budgetary improvement. The increase is significant: 15.9% from January to November 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, and already 14.9% between 2021 and 2020, observed the FinancialTimes in an article that opened a debate in the country.

A boon, of course, when the deficit was to drop from 8.4% of GDP in 2021 to 5% in 2022 and when the public debt exceeded for the first time the bar of 1,500 billion euros. But that does not resolve the doubts of observers. Inflation, of course, even contained at 5.6% in December 2022, can explain a good part of this increase in tax receipts. Growth too, much higher than that of the major European countries…