The Treasury continues to increase its revenue despite the tax cuts applied to fuels and to certain energy supplies. The Tax Agency collected 248.326 million euros during the first nine months of 2026, which represents an increase of 10% compared with the same period last year. The growth comes in a context marked by the fiscal measures approved by the Government to contain the economic effects of the conflict in the Middle East, which have reduced the income from gasoline, diesel and other energy products.
According to the latest data published by the Tax Agency this Friday, October 30, the Personal Income Tax (IRPF) is once again becoming the main driver of public revenue, with cumulative collection of 118.068 million euros, 12.5% more than in 2025. This figure represents close to half of all taxes collected up to September and makes it possible to more than offset the decline recorded in taxes on fuels, which have lost around 3,000 million euros in revenue as a consequence of the fiscal measures related to the energy crisis.
The evolution reflects two different trends. On the one hand, the Executive has temporarily reduced certain taxes to ease the rising cost of fuels and electricity. On the other, job growth, wage increases and the rise in pensions are increasing the amounts that administrations collect through IRPF. Added to this is the effect of inflation on a tax whose brackets have not been generally updated to offset the increase in prices.
IRPF drives Hacienda's revenue up to 118.068 million
The main driver of the increase in tax revenue is the IRPF, whose collection has grown 12.5% between January and September 2026. The 118.068 million collected represent approximately 47.5% of total tax revenue for the period, a proportion that confirms the weight of labor income, pensions and other personal income in the public accounts.
The Tax Agency attributes this evolution mainly to the strength of the labor market and the growth of wage and pension masses. When the number of employed people increases, the volume of payrolls subject to withholding also grows. In the same way, increases in wages and retirement benefits raise the bases on which the tax is calculated, although the specific effect depends on the tax situation of each taxpayer.
However, the increase in revenue does not necessarily mean that workers are gaining more purchasing power. Part of wage improvements respond to the need to offset the rising cost of living, while IRPF is calculated on nominal income. Therefore, a person may receive a wage increase that does not improve their real purchasing capacity and, at the same time, bear a higher withholding.
This phenomenon is reinforced by the absence of a general update of the IRPF brackets in line with inflation, which can raise the effective average rate borne by some taxpayers. The consequence is that Hacienda can collect more from payrolls even when part of wage increases only offsets the rise in prices.
Why you pay more IRPF even though your salary has hardly improved
One of the keys to the growth in revenue is the so-called cold progression, also known as cold fiscal progression. This phenomenon occurs when nominal wages rise as a result of inflation, but the limits of the brackets of a progressive tax are not updated in the same proportion.
IRPF establishes different tax rates according to the amount of the taxpayer's income. When a person receives a wage increase, part of their income may begin to be taxed at a higher marginal rate, even though the improvement in their salary has occurred solely to offset the rising cost of goods and services. This does not mean that all the salary is taxed at the rate of the higher bracket, but rather that this percentage is applied to the portion of income that corresponds.
For example, a worker who receives a salary increase of 4% in a similar inflation context can keep their purchasing power practically intact. However, if the tax brackets remain frozen, the increase in their nominal income may cause them to end up allocating a slightly larger proportion of their income to tax. The exact effect will depend on their salary, their family circumstances, the applicable deductions and the regulations of the autonomous community in which they reside.
The Tax Agency points out that the increase in the effective rate is contributing to the growth in income from IRPF, along with the evolution of employment and remuneration. Therefore, revenue increases not only because there are more workers or because wages are higher, but also because of the way tax on those incomes is calculated.
The taxes on gasoline and diesel fall by 13%
The evolution of IRPF contrasts with that recorded in the Special Tax on Hydrocarbons, whose revenue accumulates a fall of 13% up to September 2026. The decline is especially accentuated in the last month analyzed, when the income from this tax was reduced by 25% compared with September of the previous year.
The fall is mainly due to the fiscal measures approved by the Government to deal with the rise in the cost of energy resulting from the conflict in the Middle East. Since March, the Executive has promoted different aid packages that include temporary reductions in the taxes applied to fuels, as well as measures aimed at certain economic sectors especially affected by the increase in energy costs.
Between January and September, the reductions in the Special Tax on Hydrocarbons have meant a reduction in revenue of approximately 1,383 million euros. Added to this amount are another 1,169 million related to the VAT reductions applied to energy products, including fuels, electricity and gas. Taken together, the extraordinary fiscal measures have taken around 3,000 million euros off tax revenue during the first nine months of the year.
In addition, the Government approved on September 29 a new extension of the tax reductions, establishing a cut of 20 cents per liter in the Tax on Hydrocarbons for unleaded gasoline and diesel for general use during October. The regulation provides for reductions of 13 cents in November and six in December, although those amounts may be modified depending on the evolution of prices. The corresponding impact for October does not yet appear in the published data, which only include accumulated revenue up to September.
VAT also grows by 8.1% despite fiscal measures on energy
The second major driver of revenue is the Value Added Tax (VAT), which has contributed 81.181 million euros between January and September, 8.1% more than during the same period of 2025. Growth remains despite the temporary cuts that have been applied to certain energy products during the year.
The trend is related to the behavior of household consumption, the increase in their nominal incomes, and the rise in the cost of numerous goods and services. When consumers spend more money, whether because they buy more products or because prices are higher, VAT revenue can increase, as long as the corresponding tax rates are maintained.
As a result, a rise in VAT revenue does not necessarily prove that families are consuming a greater quantity of goods and services. Part of the increase may be due to the growth in prices, which raises the amount on which the tax is calculated. This effect is combined with the real evolution of consumption and with differences in taxation between products.
Special taxes, however, show an opposite trend. According to the Ministry of Finance data, their total revenue has fallen by 8.5%, to 15,718 million euros, mainly as a consequence of the tax cuts on energy. The difference between the behavior of general VAT and that of energy taxes explains why the overall set of public revenues can continue to grow even though the State collects less from certain fuels.
Corporation Tax increases by more than 25%, but there is an extraordinary effect
The Corporate Tax also records an increase of more than 25% in the cumulative collection of 2026, although an important part of this evolution is related to extraordinary factors that make it difficult to directly compare the results with those of the previous fiscal year.
Specifically, collection is affected by the refunds derived from the judicial annulment of certain tax measures introduced in the 2016 tax reform, promoted during the tenure of Cristóbal Montoro at the head of the Ministry of Finance. These circumstances alter the comparison between fiscal years, so the observed growth cannot be interpreted solely as a consequence of an increase in corporate profits.
When the Tax Agency removes certain extraordinary effects and makes a comparison in homogeneous terms, the growth in Corporate Tax revenues is around 7%, a figure considerably lower than the rate shown by collection without adjustments.
This difference is important for correctly interpreting the data: collecting more from a tax does not necessarily mean that economic activity or companies' profitability has increased by the same proportion. The payment schedule, refunds, and regulatory changes also influence the amount finally collected.
Hacienda collects 13.5% more in September, although the real growth in collection moderates
The latest monthly data show that Hacienda collected 18.049 million euros during September 2026, 13.5% more than in the same month of the previous year. However, the Tax Agency warns that part of this increase is explained by the evolution of tax refunds, which were lower than those made in September 2025.
Specifically, gross revenues increased by 5.4%, while refunds decreased by 18%. The decline in the latter is related, in part, to the high extraordinary refunds made last year as a result of various court rulings. For this reason, the growth in net collection is higher than that of gross revenues.
The same circumstance must be taken into account when analyzing the year as a whole. Although accumulated tax revenues grow by 10% through September, the increase is reduced to 8% in homogeneous terms, once certain extraordinary and calendar effects have been corrected. This last rate is also two tenths lower than that recorded through August, which reflects a gradual moderation in the pace of growth.
The difference between both measurements does not invalidate the increase in public revenues, but it makes it possible to better understand its origin. The increase responds both to a larger revenue base and to fiscal and administrative factors that alter comparisons between financial years.
Collecting more taxes does not necessarily mean reducing the public deficit
The increase in tax revenues comes in a context in which public accounts are also bearing higher expenses and new economic support measures. Therefore, the fact that Hacienda collects more does not automatically mean that the deficit of the administrations is reduced in the same proportion.
The latest fiscal data show that the deficit of public administrations, excluding local corporations, stood at around 30,000 million euros through August, without taking into account the extraordinary expenses linked to DANA. This figure is equivalent to 1.71% of GDP, above the 1.5% recorded in the same period of the previous year.
For its part, the State deficit through September is around 2.2% of GDP. These results show that additional revenues must be analyzed together with the evolution of public spending, transfers between administrations, and the extraordinary measures approved by the Executive.
The picture left by the first nine months of 2026 is, therefore, that of a Hacienda that continues to increase its revenue thanks mainly to IRPF and IVA, despite losing income from tax cuts on fuels. The growth in employment, wages, and pensions boosts the amounts collected, while inflation and the lack of a general update of the IRPF brackets also contribute to increasing the tax burden of certain taxpayers.
The key is that the reductions in energy taxes affect only a part of the revenue, while personal income tax levies a much larger volume of income. For this reason, the Treasury can collect more money overall even though it has temporarily reduced taxation on gasoline, diesel, and other energy products.