Madrid pays $52,000 million in salaries that are taxable in other autonomous regions.

These are the official statistics of the Tax Agency that link the salaries paid by companies located in the autonomous region and the payrolls received by employees resident in the same territory. Kind of Financial balance of salary incomewhich the body under the Ministry of Finance updates every year and which since 2017 has been systematically favorable to Catalonia, which according to the latest available data issued yesterday in the form of salaries in 2024 received about 2.4 billion euros more than its companies paid.

This is a favorable balance It is far from harmless in terms of financingBecause it gives Catalonia greater financial capacity through the salaries collected than it corresponds to due to the possibility of paying salaries to its commercial fabric, with revenues of one million dollars to the region’s coffers.

This is in fact the criterion to which the investment agreement between the PSC and the ERC aims to obtain VAT resources, which today are distributed according to the consumption intensity registered in each autonomous community – a measure that is proving to be harmful for Catalonia – and which the political agreement intends to distribute in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises on the basis of declared sales by residents of each territory, which would be more beneficial for Catalonia.

In Spain The biggest payer is the Community of Madrid. The picture presented by the “Labor Market and Pensions in Tax Sources” report corresponding to the fiscal year 2024, issued yesterday by the Tax Authority, reveals that companies headquartered in the capital region They paid €162.671 million in salaries that yearThis represents almost a third of the total salaries paid in Spain, with Catalonia being the second society that paid the highest number of salaries at €103,903 million.

What is most striking is that, unlike in Catalonia, about a third of the salaries paid by companies based in the Madrid region returned to other regions. We are talking, specifically, about the 51.748 million euros in salaries that left the region destined for More than two million taxpayers reside in other communities They are self-governing and therefore pay taxes on their salary income in other regions, which feeds the coffers of other autonomous regions.

“Effect of capital”

The data published through this report provides a new perspective on issues such as those alleged Lack of inter-regional solidarity for the Community of MadridFor its policies related to reducing taxes; Or the so-called “capital effect”, by which some analysts and political leaders understand that the metropolitan area receives significant additional financial returns simply by being the capital and hosting most of the state’s administrative apparatus.

The tax agency’s report reveals that, in fact, the Community of Madrid is centralizing a A quarter of public sector salaries This means that nearly $7,000 million is applied to the payroll of residents in the region compared to just under $4,000 million in Catalonia, II.

However, this income, which can be called additional, is compensated by approximately 10,000 million euros of lost salary withholding from the salaries paid by companies based in the Madrid Region to employees residing in other autonomous regions.

That outflow of salaries and associated tax credits that flows from companies domiciled in the Community of Madrid Spread throughout the territoryAlthough the main beneficiary of it in quantitative terms is Andalusia. Official data issued by the Ministry of Treasury reveal that there are more than 700,000 paid employees residing in Andalusia and receiving their salaries from companies in other regions, with an appropriate salary balance of 17,000 million euros.

the Border areas with the Community of MadridCastilla y León and Castilla-La Mancha also gain very important economic and financial performance from this other capital influence. In the case of Castile and León, this effect pays the salaries of 250,000 Castilian-Leones and leaves at least 7,000 million euros in society, with corresponding personal income tax taxes. In the case of the La Mancha region, we are talking about approximately 300,000 employees and a corresponding balance of close to 7,000 million.

In fact, Castilian appears to be more dependent on the salaries its employees receive from companies in other autonomous regions.

All over Spain, except Madrid Only Cantabria pays more salaries than it receivesso that the rest of the autonomous communities receive greater salary income than their local companies, despite their varying degrees of dependence on the outside world.

Where it pays better

According to Treasury Department data, the… Madrid also appears as the highest paying side In all age groups. The report, prepared with data provided by taxpayers and companies in their tax returns, concludes that the average salary paid last year in the Community of Madrid was €31,911, while the national average was €24,962 in 2024. If the real salary signed by employees were taken into account, without applying the downward weighting resulting from its application to twelve months of the year as is the case when calculating the average salary, the average wage would actually exceed €36,000. If the process were carried out to extrapolate the average real wage signed in the contract to the probability of receiving it during a full year, this would result in the average annual salary offered in the Community of Madrid being around €38,500 per year.

A comparison on this last measure results in the average annual wage offered in Spain being just over €32,000, with Catalonia (€34,771), Asturias (€32,096), Aragon, the Balearic Islands and Galicia (over €30,000) being the best-paying destinations, and Extremadura (€27,271) and the Canary Islands (€27,941). euros) and Murcia (28,351 euros), in a nightmare. The average salary offered in Spain for those under 25 years old barely exceeds €22,000 per year.