Spain’s regional funding system continued to discriminate against Catalonia in 2014
Catalonia is third revenue contributor, but drops to tenth place in funds received
BarcelonaIn 2014 Catalonia was the autonomous region that contributed the third most in tax revenue to the Spanish system, but was tenth in funding per capita under the current financing model.
This was reported in a note by Catalonia’s Ministry of Economy and Finance that referred to data provided by Spain’s Finance Ministry. Specifically, Catalonia contributed 17.6% more than the regional average for autonomous communities that are funded through the standard system (1), but received 2% less than average from the central government. In resources provided, Catalonia trailed behind Madrid and the Balearic Islands. After the current financing system was applied, it fell to the tenth position in resources received, behind Cantabria, La Rioja, Extremadura, Aragon, Castilla y León, Asturias, Galicia, Castilla La Mancha, and the Balearic Islands.
According to the Catalan Ministry of Economy and Treasury, this confirms the trend from 2010-2013 when Catalonia lost between 7 and 8 relative positions after applying the current financing model. The ministry also noted that if cost of living is taken into account, Catalonia drops eleven places, from third to fourteenth.
According to the government, the data that the Finance Ministry —led by Cristóbal Montoro— sent to the Department of the Vice-presidency and Economy and Finance show that "the redistribution mechanisms used by the Spanish funding system encourages an arbitrary distribution of resources." And the Catalan administration noted that Catalonia lost seven positions while other regions with a tax contribution capacity well below the average received more funds per capita than Catalonia.
The data published by the Finance Ministry corrected upward the provisional calculation of the financing distribution from the 2014 advance payment for Catalonia. Initially, they had forecast €1.406 billion, but in the end €1.551 billion was the correct figure, according to the actual tax revenue for 2014.
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(1) N.T. Regional governments in Spain are mostly funded through tax revenue transfers from Madrid’s central administration. The only exceptions are Navarre and the Basque Country, whose regional governments collect all tax revenue themselves.
