La reforma fiscal pendiente

Laburpena

The aim of this paper is to present a summary of the measures proposed by the Committee for the Tax Reform as well as how these measures have been included in the laws approved by the Spanish Parliament. It also contains an analysis of the topics of the Tax System that should be taken into consideration in order to achieve a reduction of the shadow economy where most of the fraud has its origin. Shadow economy in Spain amounts to around 20 per cent of the GNP that is double the average of that in the European Union. Reduction of the shadow economy and tax fraud would allow the reduction of public déficit with positive effects on the design of a Tax Reform without the constraints of the priority objective of reduction of public déficit which has been an important issue for the work of the Committee as well as for the approved Tax Reform. Tax and public expenditure fraud should be combated increasing the resources of the Revenue Agency and the Court of Audit services. Also high tax rates as well as those applied to social charges have been used by taxpayers to explain the high level of Tax fraud. The different tax charges depending on tax residence, as well as considering the use of dwelling houses as taxable income are also topics that should be revised in order to reduce tax fraud and also as a means to increase the number of taxpayers that contribute to finance public expenditure according to the duty established by the Spanish Constitution.