Tax collection in Malaga is double the Spanish average

Malaga province's economy will once again grow more than the Spanish average this year. This will also be reflected in employment figures. These are the forecasts, published last week, from two groups of financial and economic experts in the region: Analistas Económicos de Andalucía, part of the Unicaja group, and the Malaga association of economists. Both are largely in agreement, but with subtle differences: the Unicaja group anticipates growth in provincial GDP of 3.5% while the provincial association is more cautious with a 2.8% increase. In contrast to these figures for Malaga province, the country's economic growth seems unlikely to exceed 2.5%.

Furthermore, at this point in the year there are already signs, evidence, that Malaga's economic growth is already stronger than that of Spain as a whole. The source of this information is the Agencia Tributaria (AEAT), Spain's tax agency. According to its latest collection report, which includes the volume of revenue from state tax figures for the first four months of 2025, these amounted to almost 2.19 billion euros in Malaga. This represents an increase of 20.8% compared to the 1.81 billion euros collected by the tax office in the province between January and April 2024.

From these figures it can be deduced that tax collection in the province is growing twice as much as countrywide, where the increase is limited to 10.1%: the 107.18 billion euros collected by the AEAT in the first four months of this year contrasts with the 97.34 billion euros for the same period last year.

This is also after tax revenues in Malaga rose by 17.4% in 2024 (to over 5.5 billion euros for the first time ever), also twice as much as in all Spain where revenue grew by 8.4%, to close to 295 billion euros.

With these figures, it can also be expected that the province will most likely set another record for tax collection. This would be the fifth in a row.

Across all state taxes, tax revenue is growing more in Malaga than the rest of Spain. This indicates the strength of economic activity across the board: it affects employment, which is reflected in the rise in personal income tax revenue, and also business profits, which is reflected in the increase in corporate tax revenue, then it also affects consumption, as evidenced by the increase in IVA revenue (sales tax on goods and services).

Let's look at each tax in more detail. Personal income tax (IRPF) receipts reached 889 million euros in Malaga by 30 April, an increase of 14.3% compared to the same period a year earlier. The increase across the entire country was 10.2%, to over 49.77 billion euros. This increase, according to the national tax agency's in-house experts, was due to the improvement in employment and salaries, as well as the increase in income from movable capital such as bank deposits and investment funds.

In the case of corporate income, or corporation, tax (the tax levied on company profits), the revenue obtained by the AEAT in Malaga province was close to 212 million euros, a remarkable year-on-year increase of 66.7%, especially when compared to the 10.1% increase at the national level, where it reached 4.23 billion euros.

There's more to the story here. The sharp increase in corporate tax revenue recorded in Malaga province is mainly due to the reduction in refunds issued by the tax agency, which fell by 37.3%, from 107 million euros to 67 millions. Although speaking only of gross income, payments made by companies increased by 19.2% in Malaga, compared to a 13.8% increase across Spain. This indicates a more dynamic progress in company results across Malaga and the fact that this province is also characterised by a more abundant productive fabric, which is growing at a faster rate than in the country as a whole.

In any case, according to the analysis by the AEAT experts, the bulk of the growth in the collection of this tax comes from large companies rather than small ones.

The third direct state-owned tax is non-resident income tax. Collection of this tax also increased at a much faster rate in the province (up 68.9% to over 115 million euros) than in the country (up 38% to 1.67 billion euros).

Direct taxes - those levied directly on the income of individuals or on business profits - collected in Malaga province amounted to 1.22 billion euros in the first four months of 2025, up 25.4% compared to the same dates in 2024 (975 million euros). In contrast, the increase recorded in Spain is less than 12%, with net revenue from these taxes rising from 50.28 billion euros to 56.23 billion euros.

Yet the same is true for indirect taxes, those levied on consumption. In total, the Malaga tax office collected 947.6 million euros in the first four months of the year, an increase of 15.6% compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, in Spain as a whole, once again, revenue from these taxes rose by only half as much as in Malaga, up 8.7% to 50.17 billion euros.

The most important of these taxes is IVA, with Malaga collecting 929.5 million euros between January and April, an increase of 15.5% year-on-year, twice as much as in Spain (8.4%, to 40.67 billions). Experts have always attributed this dynamism in IVA revenue to the strength of consumption in the province, to the fact that prices in Malaga are higher and also to the floating population from tourism in the Costa del Sol province. This is what makes IVA the tax that brings the most into the tax coffers in Malaga, as opposed to what happens in Spain as a whole, where it is personal income tax (IRPF).

Excise taxes - those levied, for example, on electricity, alcohol, beer, hydrocarbons - brought in 8.87 million euros in Malaga up to April, 18.6% more than in the same period in 2024. Meanwhile, in Spain, this particular tax yielded 7.28 billion euros, an increase of 7.9% year-on-year.

Finally, the Malaga tax office collected 7.2 million euros in foreign traffic tax, 33.7% more than a year earlier, an increase also greater than that of the country as a whole (up 25.7% to 970.5 million euros).