The 26th of April is the day when we stop paying taxes in Navarra; that is to say, it is the date in which we celebrate Taxpayers' Day. We Navarrese need 116.7 days of work in order to comply with our tax obligations. In the year 2007, we worked 79.8 days for our autonomous community, 3.9 days for our local government, 1.6 days for the central government, and 31.3 days for social security (see Table 1).
Table 1. Workdays dedicated to paying taxes (2007)
In Spain, an additional month is needed, until the 21st of May, to pay all the direct and indirect taxes, as well as the social security payments, 142 days to be precise.
The differences observed between Navarra and the national average are mainly significant in the areas of central and autonomous community administrations; on the national level 68.5 are worked for central administration (1.6 in Navarra) and 30.7 days for the autonomous community (compared to the 79.8 days in Navarra). However, it is important to distinguish the autonomous communities according to their financing systems: between common autonomous communities, and those that have their own special laws thus enjoying certain privileges (foral). This distinction is significant since it involves substantial differences in the structure of tax revenue, explaining the differences observed between Navarra and the national average insofar as the distribution of the tax burden between the central and regional administrations.
As regards municipal tax burden, this translates into 10.8 workdays in the national average compared to the 3.9 days in Navarra. Therefore, Navarra registers a tax burden through its local administration lower than the national average; nevertheless, the differences in this case cannot be explained in their totality by the greater wealth per capita of Navarra, since the tax collection per capita is less than the national average. Even so, the differences in tax collection per capita are remarkably less than those of tax burden.
31.3 days are worked for the social security system in Navarra; the national average is very similar, 32.1 days a year. However, despite the lesser differences registered in tax burden, upon analysing the contributions per capita collected through the General Treasury of the Social Security, Navarra presents a much higher collection rate per capita than the national average.
In the last six years, Tax Freedom Day in Navarra and in Spain has varied slightly (see Table 2). In Navarra, lesser fiscal pressure was registered in the years 2003 and 2004 when Tax Freedom Day was celebrated on the 13th of April. On the other hand, the highest level was reached in 2006, when Navarrese had to work 15 days more, until the 28th of April in order to comply with their tax obligations. In the last year, 2007, Navarrese were able to pay off their obligations two days earlier: the 26th of April.
Table 2. Tax Freedom Day (2002-2007)
As can be observed, in all these years Navarra has celebrated its Tax Freedom Day 19-25 days earlier than the national date in the rest of the country. In Spain, Tax Freedom Day has had a rising tendency in the last six years: if in 2002 Tax Freedom Day was celebrated on the 5th of May, in 2007 16 more days were needed so that Spanish society could fulfil their tax obligations, the date being postponed till the 21st of May.
