Due to the publication of the Country by Country report by the Ministry of Finance, Ibex companies have expressed their dissatisfaction by considering that the Executive indicates that large Spanish companies pay fewer taxes than they are entitled to, which produces a negative opinion of the public.
1. Country-by-Country Report
This report states that, although it does not identify the companies specifically, it does the 23 largest companies of Ibex. Likewise, 124 Spanish multinationals were reported with an effective rate of profit tax of 16.7% in the fiscal year 2019, an amount lower than that of 2018.
Companies defend themselves by assuring that “fiscally, the contribution of a multinational goes far beyond corporate income tax,” i.e., they must pay corporate income tax with a series of taxes and duties at different levels and administrations.
2. Ibex justifications
One of the arguments put forward by the Ibex companies is that the corporate income tax may have been impacted by past losses of these companies, which have been compensated in subsequent years. On the other hand, another justification is the double yardstick to measure Spanish companies and large corporations operating in the country, such as Netflix, Amazon, or Google, which declare their income in countries with low or no taxation, paying a minimum tax rate in Spain.
3. Poor relationship with the government
In recent months, there has been a growing distrust of President Pedro Sanchez from large Spanish corporations, who tried to point them, in his perception, as the focal point of the economic crisis derived from the Ukrainian war with Russia.
In this regard, the delay in the distribution of European funds, his mismanagement of the energy crisis, inflation, and others have caused them to look to other leaders as an alternative to the current government.
Source: The Objective 25/04/22
