The allocation to the Catholic Church from personal income tax continues to grow strongly. If during the 2019 financial year it exceeded the level of 300 million, to decrease slightly the following year (297.68 million), in the tax returns after the … pandemic, progress has been unstoppable, reaching, this campaign (corresponding to the 2024 personal income tax), a new historic record: 429.3 million euros, the highest figure since the existence of the current model and the first time that the 400 million mark has been exceeded. The increase compared to the previous year (which already represented a record figure with 382.43 million) is 46.9 million, which represents an increase of 12%.
According to provisional data received on December 3 by the Episcopal Conference, the total number of declarations in favor of the Church amounts to 7,946,347, or 106,363 more than last year. If we include joint declarations, more than 9 million Spaniards marked the
The growth occurs despite the fact that the percentage of leavers decreases slightly (–0.34%), reaching 30.08%, which is also a negative trend since 2018, when a third of respondents (33.2%) supported the X of the Catholic Church. The explanation of this phenomenon by the Episcopal Conference is the same as in previous years and attributes it to the increase in declarations that do not check any box – almost 40% of the total –, an orientation that also affected the box of social purposes, which decreased by 1.04%.
Evolution of the amount allocated in recent years
The number of declarations in favor of the Church increases in 16 of the 17 autonomous communities, with particular intensity in Andalusia, Madrid, the Valencian Community and Castile-La Mancha. Only Navarra records a decline, as well as the Provincial Treasury of Vizcaya, as happened the previous year. The attribution percentage decreases in all autonomies, except in the Provincial Treasury of Gipuzkoa, which is in its second year of growth after the coordinated work of the diocese and the provincial council.
The number of declarations in favor of the Church increased in 16 of the 17 autonomous communities, with particular intensity in Andalusia, Madrid, the Valencian Community and Castile. The place
Nine communities are above the national average in percentage of assignees, led by Castilla-La Mancha (42.6%), Extremadura (42.1%), La Rioja (41.9%), Murcia (41.3%) and Castilla y León (40.3%). At the opposite extreme are the Canary Islands (24%), Galicia (23.5%) and Catalonia (15%). The largest percentage decreases are recorded in Navarra (–0.84%), Cantabria (–0.65%) and Castilla-La Mancha (–0.61%), although these are gentler declines than those of the previous year.
“More than 9 million thanks”
Following these results, the Episcopal Conference also launched a gratitude campaign under the theme “More than 9 million thanks”, aimed at all the people who marked the X in their declaration. The Secretariat for Church Sustainability emphasizes that behind each figure hide “concrete faces and confidence in the social, cultural and spiritual work of the Church”.
Thus, the website of the Xtantos page, an initiative of the Church to promote the marking of the
About The Author
