Spain: Regional Tax Competitiveness Index
In October of 2017, the Spanish Taxpayers Union (UC) launched the first edition of its Regional Tax Competitiveness Index. This report inspired by the Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index measures the country’s seventeen regional fiscal systems by analyzing 64 indicators and produces a ranking to show how each of them performs in comparison with the rest.
The main outcome in policy making has been acknowledged in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa, where this report has been influential on the provincial president who reintroduced measures to limit impact of the provincial Wealth Tax. Similarly, the president of Extremadura had to reduce the inheritance tax as the Index revealed that neighboring regions had much lower rates negatively impacting Extremadura’s tax competitiveness. Finally, other politicians, in areas ranging from the Canary Islands to Navarre, have also used the Index in their media statements, regional parliament speeches or in debates with their opponents.
The report can be downloaded in Spanish here.
