Catalonia: taxes
In the fifteen common-regime communities, half of personal income tax is set by the region; the Basque Country and Navarre set all of it. So the same income is taxed differently depending on where you live. Below: the tax on the same taxable income in every region, then Catalonia's fiscal balance with the central government under each published method.
Income tax on the same taxable income, 2025
Tax year 2025 (returns filed in 2026). A single taxpayer under 65 with no children, on taxable income (base liquidable) of €25,000, €50,000 and €100,000, before any regional tax credits for rent, children, donations and so on, which every region offers in different forms. Taxable income is what is left after social security contributions and work-related allowances, so it is below gross salary. The Basque Country and Navarre work out taxable income with their own allowances, so the same gross salary usually gives them a lower taxable income than this comparison assumes; their figures are higher than what a worker on the same salary would pay there. Some regions also give broad credits (for low incomes, rent, children) that this comparison leaves out.
All regions, with tax as % of taxable income
Sorted by the tax at €50,000. Regional part = the share set by the region (common regime only).
Catalonia's fiscal balance with the central government
There is no single official figure. The Generalitat and the Ministry of Finance have each published Catalonia's balance with the central government: the central government's spending attributed to Catalonia minus the revenue attributed to it. They use different methods, and the results differ by several points of GDP. Every published figure is shown below with its publisher's label. Negative means more revenue than spending is attributed to Catalonia under that method; in the Ministry's relative balance it means a lower net balance per person than the Spanish average.
- Benefit method: taxes are counted where the people who bear them live, spending where its beneficiaries live (a ministry in Madrid serves everyone). Both publishers use it: the Ministry's annual series (SCPT, 2011–2014) uses only this method.
- Monetary flow method: taxes are counted where the taxed activity happens, spending where it physically takes place. The Generalitat publishes both methods and headlines this one; the Ministry used it only in a 2008 study of 2005.
- Neutralisation: central government usually runs a deficit, which on its own makes most regions' balances less negative or more positive. Neutralised figures simulate a balanced central budget, by raising revenue (revenue side) or cutting spending (spending side). The Ministry's relative balance compares each region with the Spanish average per person instead, so all regions sum to zero.