Both levies, the amount of which is in line with forecasts, are consistent with the government’s tax policy of asking those who have the most to make a greater effort and contribute to the benefit of the social majority.
The levies on credit institutions and energy companies reached 2,859 million euros in 2024. This figure is in line with the government’s forecasts and is also very similar to the previous year’s amount.
If each of the figures is broken down, the levy on credit institutions has raised 1,695 million euros. The levy on energy companies amounted to 1,164 million euros.
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Bank and energy levies reach 2.859 billion euros in 2024
These levies, which have a first advance payment in February and a second settlement payment in September, follow the recommendations of international organisations that call for a greater contribution from those sectors with large profits. In both cases, the known payment for 2024 is made taking into account the results obtained in 2023.
These figures, which were approved at the end of 2022, are part of a fair and progressive tax policy of the Government where a greater effort is requested from those who have the most, such as large multinationals through a minimum rate of 15% or large estates through the Solidarity Tax on Large Fortunes.
In this sense, both credit institutions and energy companies have accumulated record profits, so it is consistent with a higher tax contribution, which results in better public services for the country’s social majority.
At the same time, the government’s fiscal policy has made it possible to alleviate the tax burden on middle and low-incomes through the largest-ever reduction in taxes linked to energy or VAT, which has meant savings for families of 25 billion euros.
To this amount must be added the reduction in personal income tax for incomes up to 21,000 euros, which has meant a saving of 5 billion euros in withholding taxes. Also the reduction in corporate income tax from 25% to 23% for SMEs with a turnover of up to one million euros.
How the levies work
The levies on banks and energy companies are configured as a non-tax benefit of an economic nature, following the guidelines established by the doctrine of the Constitutional Court, as an instrument to make the so-called ‘effort sharing’ principle effective.
In the case of energy companies, it affects the ‘main operators’, by the regulations governing markets and competition, as well as persons or entities that carry out activities in Spain involving the production of crude oil or natural gas, coal mining or oil refining, and that generate, in the year before the year in which the obligation arises, a significant amount of energy tax.