Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
35
30
25
REG EXP
SE%GDP
20
15
TR%GDP
DEC TR
FCI
10
5
0
1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004
FIGURE 7.1. Evolution of Spain's Fiscal Structure
and the special one, applied only in the Basque Country and Navarra (Aja
1999
:
172-198; Monasterio et al.
1995
). These two AC collect their own income,
corporate, and VAT taxes, transferring after a fixed quota to the central state
administration. The rest of the ACs' revenues are apportioned by the central
state. Of the total revenues received by these regions, State transfers represent
more than 95%.
10
The remaining comes from the very limited number of taxes
that AC and local councils are entitled to impose. As a result of the dual
character of the institutions ruling fiscal federalism in Spain, only Navarra and
the Basque Country enjoy the necessary conditions to be fiscally accountable
and responsive. As for the other fifteen (including Galicia, Catalonia, and
Andalucia) the institutional design adopted generated a gap, growing over
time, between their capacity to spend and their capacity to collect revenues.
These are the political and institutional conditions that shape the evolution of
Spain's fiscal structure.
ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY AND DISTRIBUTIVE IMPLICATIONS
OF FISCAL STRUCTURES
Figure 7.1
presents a number of indicators on the evolution of Spanish fis-
cal structure: REG EXP captures the share of regional expenditure over total
10
For more detailed information about the structure of fiscal revenues in Spain see Valle (
1996
:
2-26). On page 18, he analyzes the structure of fiscal revenues. The AC percentage is 1.72 %,
whereas local councils' is 2.76 %.
