Spain has more high-income taxpayers than ever before. In 2022, thanks to the positive evolution of corporate profits and the good performance of the economy and employment, people with an annual income of more than 601,000 euros grew by 25% compared to the previous year, reaching almost 15,200 individuals. It is, by far, the largest number in the series of the Tax Agency that analyzes the evolution of personal income tax (IRPF), updated this Monday by the agency. The previous record was recorded in 2021 with 12,178 citizens who entered this select club, but this figure was only slightly above that of 2019, before the health and economic crisis. The Treasury data, which are published with a two-year lag and correspond to the liquidation that took place in last year’s Income Tax campaign, therefore account for the good moment that the country’s high incomes are experiencing. In fact, they are the group that, proportionally, gains the most members.
The statistics collect information from work income, but also from other sources such as investment, economic activities or property income. From here, the Tax Agency groups all taxpayers into 10 income brackets, always based on the taxable base. The segment that includes those who earn more than 601,000 euros is, by far, the one that grows the most, since its increase, of 24.7%, is well above that which includes those who range between 150,000 and 601,000 euros per year (its members increase by 17.2% per year) and that which groups those who move between 60,000 and 150,000 euros (14.5%). Low and medium incomes grow at a slower pace, while the poorest lose representation: that is, there are fewer people than a year earlier in the most affected part of the table. In 2022, the minimum interprofessional wage The number of people who filed a claim for unemployment benefits exceeded the 1,000 euro monthly barrier for the first time in 14 instalments. In addition, pensions were revalued by 8.5%. Overall, the total number of people filing a claim for unemployment benefits was close to 22.9 million, an increase of 3.8%.
Of these, more than half – some 12.8 million people – declared low incomes, less than 21,000 euros per year. From this range, four million ranged between 21,000 and 30,000 euros; 4.8 million, between 30,000 and 60,000 euros; one million declared between 60,000 and 150,000 euros; and 144,630 people earned between 150,000 and 601,000 euros. In other words, despite the historic increase, the group of the super-rich represented only 0.07% of the total number of taxpayers.
The wealthiest profiles are greatly influenced by their income composition. Unlike what happens with low and middle incomes, who essentially live off their work, the richest complement this income with all those incomes that are included in the income from capital and savings, mainly composed of shares, dividends, interest and other types of capital gains that are generally linked to the market and stock market performance.
If we analyse the weight of work income in each of the income brackets, this indicator is close to the threshold in all of them. Thus, for example, taxpayers who earn between 12,000 and 21,000 euros per year declare, on average, around 16,500 euros from work. Between 30,000 and 60,000 euros, the average declaration is close to 37,000 euros. From 601,000 euros, the average figure is 615,800 euros. However, if we analyse only movable capital – which includes, for example, bank deposits or dividends on shares – the picture changes completely. In this case, below 60,000 euros per year, taxpayers obtain on average a few hundred euros through this route, but for the ultra-rich the value of the investment reaches 426,000 euros per year per head. In 2022, despite the inflationary and energy crisis, Ibex companies recorded gross income of 596,692 million euros, with a net result of 51,895 million, making the year the second best in the historical series and contributing to increasing the income of the wealthiest.
By territory, the majority of high taxpayers are located in the Community of Madrid, where there are 18 people with more than 601,000 euros for every 10,000 taxpayers. In total, there are just over 6,500 rich people (43% of the entire country, except for the Basque Country and Navarre, which have their own tax systems) who pay, on average, 237,383 euros per year, a fall of around 4,000 euros compared to the previous year, which is explained by the regional reductions in personal income tax. After the capital region are Catalonia, with 3,365 high profiles, and the Valencian Community, with 1,251 wealthy taxpayers. Extremadura, Cantabria, Asturias and the two Castillas are the territories with the lowest proportion: less than two for every 10 taxpayers.
The statistics from the Tax Agency also offer an overview of average incomes by type of economic activity. All of them, essentially those of employees and most of the self-employed, increase from one year to the next. On the one hand, the declared income of employees stood, on average, at 24,785 euros, a historical record that follows the wake of the recovery of the labor market that began after the pandemic. On the other hand, self-employed workers in direct estimation declared a record of 18,728 euros. However, self-employed workers who pay taxes by modules registered a fall after the surge recorded a year earlier. In 2022 they declared 9,148 euros on average.
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