Banking tax fiasco: for every euro collected, private sector funding falls by 17 euros

While The government is working to make the “extraordinary profits” tax permanent.“From banking, financial institutions are reacting by reducing funding for companies and families, which has already fallen by 40.125 million euros since the government adopted PSOE and Sumar introduced this measure into our tax system.

The analyzed period covers from the end of 2022 to August of the current 2024 academic year and is confirmed by data provided by the Bank of Spain. According to the data, the decline in the outstanding balance of loans extended to the private sector was particularly acute in business finance, which fell by €24.8 billion, although mortgage lending also saw a decline of €15.8 billion.

Overall, if consumer credit is included, the outstanding balance of loans offered by financial institutions to companies and families increased from €1.174 trillion at the end of 2022 to €1.134 trillion in August 2024. Thus, the tax applied by the government of Pedro Sánchez would announce a reduction in the financing that banks provide to the Spanish economy by more than 40 billion dollars.

Already in 2022 Free market published various information in which the affected companies warned of a noticeable reduction in the issuance of loans. In fact, this newspaper noted that a tax on “extraordinary profits” would wipe out €50 billion in private sector funding, according to sector sources.

In 2023, the tax applied to credit institutions generated approximately €1.695 million in tax revenue. Assuming a similar figure for 2024, the treasury would have received 2.825 million in 2023 and the first eight months of 2024, while credit would have been reduced by 40.125 million over the same period. This means that for every euro collected, 17 euros of economic funding was lost.