Madrid pays out $52 billion in salaries that are taxed in other autonomous communities.

This is an official tax office statistic that links salaries paid by companies located in a borough to salaries received by employees residing in the same borough. a kind of Fiscal balance of employment incomeThis is updated annually by an agency dependent on the Ministry of Finance and has been systematically favorable for Catalonia since 2017, with Catalonia receiving around €2.4 billion more in salaries than companies paid in 2024, according to the latest available data published yesterday.

That good balance Not innocuous from a funding perspectiveThis is because it gives Catalonia the fiscal capacity to collect more salaries than its equivalent due to the possibility of paying salaries to its business structure, resulting in millions of dollars in benefits to regional coffers.

This is in fact because the investiture agreement between the PSC and the ERC intended to receive VAT resources, distributed according to the intensity of consumption recorded in each autonomous community, a criterion that has proven detrimental to Catalonia, and the political agreement intended to be distributed in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises based on the turnover declared by the people residing in each region, a criterion that is more beneficial for Catalonia.

In Spain, A great salary payer is the Community of Madrid. According to photos published in the report “Labour and Pension Market at Tax Source” for fiscal year 2024 released by the National Tax Agency yesterday, companies based in the Tokyo metropolitan area In the same year they paid a salary of 162,671 million eurosThis represents nearly a third of the total salaries paid in Spain, with Catalonia being the second region with the highest salaries at 103,903 million euros.

The most surprising thing is that, contrary to what is happening in Catalonia, about a third of the salaries paid by companies based in the Community of Madrid have returned to other regions. We are talking in particular about the 51.748 billion euro salary destined for this region. More than 2 million taxpayers living in other communities Because of its autonomy, it paid taxes on wages earned in other territories, enriching the coffers of other autonomous states.

“Capital effect”

The data disseminated through this report provides new perspectives on issues such as allegations. Lack of solidarity between territories of the Community of Madridfor tax reduction policies. Or the so-called “capital effect.” Some analysts and political leaders understand that the National Capital Region provides significant additional fiscal revenue simply because it is the capital and where most of the nation’s administrative structures are located.

The Tax Agency’s report reveals that, in effect, the Community of Madrid has centralized control over the tax administration. A quarter of the salary paid by the public sector This means that almost 7 billion in withholding taxes are applied to the salaries of residents of this region, while Catalonia comes in second with just under 4 billion.

However, this additional income is more than compensated for by the approximately 10 billion euros in payroll withholdings lost from salaries paid by companies in the Community of Madrid to employees residing in other autonomous regions.

Outflow of salaries and associated tax balances from companies based in the Community of Madrid spread throughout the territoryHowever, quantitatively the main beneficiary is Andalusia. According to official data from the Ministry of Finance, Andalusia is home to more than 700,000 salaried workers who receive salaries from companies in other regions, with a salary balance of 17 billion euros.

of Border area with the Community of MadridCastilla y León and Castilla-La Mancha also derive very good economic and fiscal performance from this other capital effect. In the case of Castile and León, this effect will result in the salaries of 250,000 Castilian Leoneans being paid and, together with the corresponding personal income taxes, more than €7 billion remaining in the community. In the case of the La Mancha region, we are talking about a favorable balance of around 300,000 employees and close to 7 billion people.

In fact, the two countries of Castile appear to be most dependent on the salaries their employees receive from companies in other autonomous regions.

All of Spain except Madrid Cantabria alone pays more salaries than they receive.As a result, the remaining autonomous communities receive more salary income than domestic companies pay, although their dependence on the outside world varies.

most profitable place

According to data from the Ministry of Finance. Madrid have also emerged as the team with the highest wages. For all age groups. The report, which is based on data provided by taxpayers and companies in their tax returns, concludes that the average salary paid in the Madrid region last year was 31,911 euros, compared to the national average of 24,962 euros in 2024. This average compensation would already be exceeded if we consider the real salary signed by the employee without applying the downward weighting of the results applied to the 12 months of the year as in calculating the average salary. 36,000 euros. And if the actual average remuneration at which the contract was signed was carried out to estimate the actual average remuneration if received after one year, the average annual salary offered in the Community of Madrid would be approximately 38,500 euros per year.

A comparison based on this last indicator shows that the average annual compensation offered in Spain is just over 32,000 euros, with Catalonia (34,771 euros), Asturias (32,096 euros), Aragon, the Balearic Islands and Galicia (over 30,000 euros) being the highest paying destinations, and Extremadura (27,271 euros) the highest. Canary Islands (27,941 euros) and Murcia (28,351 euros) by caboose. The average salary given to people under the age of 25 in Spain is just over 22,000 euros per year.