En Castilla-La Mancha, more than 200,000 taxpayers, nearly 20 percent of the people who file their tax returns in the region each year, will be able to benefit from some of the deductions that the regional government has maintained for the 2024 tax campaign, with an economic impact of 58 million euros. Of these taxpayers who will be able to take advantage of these deductions, over 90,000, that is 45 percent, will do so through specific deductions for combating depopulation, resulting in a tax savings of 40 million euros.
This was announced by the Minister of Finance, Public Administrations, and Digital Transformation, Juan Alfonso Ruiz Molina, during a press conference held at the Fuensalida Palace in Toledo, where the institutional tax campaign for 2024 was presented. He was accompanied by the Director General of Taxes and Gambling Regulation, Susana Pastor.
Ruiz Molina indicated that these deductions aim to reduce the tax burden on families and young people, promote rural areas by encouraging population settlement in sparsely populated areas, and foster business activity to contribute to job creation and wealth generation.
In this regard, the minister highlighted that these deductions approved by the Castilla-La Mancha government are aimed at «addressing the population sectors with lower economic capacity, based on their personal circumstances,» and, consequently, enhance the «progressive and solidarity» nature that fiscal policy should have, as reported by the Junta in a press release.
He also noted that this tax policy not only fulfills the «commitment made» by President Emiliano García-Page in 2015 with social partners to freeze the tax pressure in the Autonomous Community but also to «reduce the tax burden on our citizens»; ultimately, as the regional president has stated, a tax policy that enables «growth to be shared.»
ECONOMIC IMPACT AND CAMPAIGN
Regarding the economic impact of tax deductions in the Personal Income Tax, the minister highlighted two significant data points for the period between 2019-2024, for which disaggregated information is available from the Tax Agency, reflecting the tax effort made by the García-Page government in the last four years.
The first data point highlighted is the number of taxpayers benefiting from deductions, which «triples,» increasing from 68,073 to 200,000; and secondly, the volume of deductions increases from 10 million in 2019 to the projected 58 million in 2024.
In this way, we are «one of the autonomous communities with the lowest tax burden» and the fourth in terms of lowest Personal Income Tax paid, when combining the maximum and minimum rates of the regional scale, he noted.
Under the slogan ‘Know your tax benefits,’ a campaign has been designed that will have a presence in the media: television, radio, print media, digital media, and social networks; additionally, informative brochures will be distributed to households and premises; and leaflets and posters will be distributed to all municipalities in the region. It is a «powerful initiative» aimed at reaching the entire population, the minister emphasized.
TAX DEDUCTIONS IN CASTILLA-LA MANCHA
In this line, the Minister of Finance, Public Administrations, and Digital Transformation, specified that in this campaign, there are a «total of 25 deductions in the regional section of the Personal Income Tax,» available to taxpayers.
In this sense, he wanted to emphasize that «the region is one of the five autonomous communities with the most tax deductions in the regional section,» surpassing Madrid, Valencia, or Galicia, all governed by the Popular Party.
These deductions, as he pointed out, are included in the Tax Measures Law of Castilla-La Mancha of 2013, and in the Law of Economic, Social, and Tax Measures against Depopulation and for Rural Development, approved in 2021, which establishes its own tax policy to address the demographic challenge. They can be consulted, as he indicated, on the Tax Portal of the Castilla-La Mancha Communities.
First, he referred to those aimed at families, young people, and the most disadvantaged sectors, differentiating between those addressing personal and family circumstances, and another group for specific expenses.
Regarding the former, Ruiz Molina informed that deductions are provided for the birth or adoption of children, ranging from 100 to 900 euros; those related to large families, general or special, or if a member has a disability; the deduction for single-parent families, 200 euros; a general deduction for those over 75 years old, and for the disability of the taxpayer or ascendants or descendants.
As for deductions to offset certain expenses, there is a 30 percent deduction of the regional full tax liability for nursery or special education center expenses; one for extraordinary education-related expenses, up to a maximum of 300 euros per child or descendant; 15 percent of expenses incurred by renting a primary residence for large families and single-parent families under 36 years old.
Also, another deduction of 150 euros for caring for ascendants over 75 years old; for the unpaid care of minors or those over 65 years old; and a deduction for those under 40 years old, aiming to offset variable interest rates related to the acquisition of their first home.
Regarding deductions to enhance measures to address the demographic challenge, the minister recalled that individuals with their habitual and effective residence in sparsely populated areas can deduct up to 25 percent of the full tax liability, varying depending on the size of the area and the municipality.
In these areas, 15 percent of expenses are deductible for acquiring, building, or rehabilitating a primary residence, and 500 euros for relocation to sparsely populated areas for work reasons.
A tax policy specifically aimed at «settling the population, with positive results,» as «an increase of about 15,000 residents in rural areas has been achieved.»
In this regard, the minister reiterated the request that the regional government has made on several occasions to the central government, for the tax policy adopted in Castilla-La Mancha aimed at combating depopulation to also apply to the national section of the Personal Income Tax (IRPF).
These regulations also include two measures to encourage business investment and, consequently, to promote wealth and job creation. This involves a deduction of 20 percent, with a limit of 4,000 euros, either for the acquisition of shares and social participations as a result of company incorporation agreements or capital increases.