The Economy of Catalonia

with the EU in the period 2007-2013 was 0.72% of its GDP. This represents
an annual contribution of about 1,400 million euros. Consequently,
this negative balance with the EU should be deducted from the fiscal
gain that would be obtained by an independent Catalonia.
It should be noted in any case that the results of this study are not substantially
affected by the fact that not all these contributions are taken
into consideration.
Conclusions
This paper gives an approximate analysis of Catalonia’s viability as an independent
State from the standpoint of its public finance. We have calculated
the additional revenue that Catalonia would obtain if it did not
have to pay taxes to the Spanish State, and the additional expenditure
that Catalonia would have to assume due to either the expenses derived
from competences currently held by the Spanish State or the brand new
expenses to be assumed by Catalonia as an independent State, such as
those for foreign policy.
To calculate these additional revenues and expenses, we based ourselves
on the level and structure of the Spanish State’s public expenses and revenues
in the period 2006-2009 since it is assumed that part of these items
would have to be transferred to Catalonia. For this reason, the results of
this study are conditioned by these aspects.
The main conclusions to be drawn from this study are set out below:
If Catalonia had been an independent State in the period 2006-2009 and
had maintained the same tax system and the same fiscal pressure as were
applied by the Spanish State, the Catalan government would have collected
an additional average yearly amount of 49,018 million euros.
Likewise, if Catalonia were to assume some new competences –in some
cases because they are specific to statehood (such as foreign policy) and in
others because they had not been previously decentralised by the Spanish
State (such as the payment of pensions)–, the cost of such additional expenses
in the period under consideration would have been an average
yearly amount of 35,129 million euros.
Consequently, the fiscal gain of an independent Catalonia is estimated at
a yearly average of 13,889 million euros, which would be equivalent to
144 The Economy of Catalonia