16/04/2013 00:00
TW
0

THE Balearic Government says that it is the central government which benefits most from the income which is brought to the country by immigration.
According to figures in a report published by the Balearic Cabinet, in 2005 immigrants contributed 23'402 million euros to public funds, while they cost 18'618 million. “The Social Security contributions made to the State by immigrants constitute 35 percent of the favourable balance. “At the same time, their contributions by way of income tax and VAT, the main part of which is taken by the State, was 24 percent of the total. “The State has been benefiting from the effects which the immigration phenomenon has been having on its finances, and now it is the turn of the autonomous regions”, says the Balearic Cabinet's report.

According to the last Balearic census in 2006, the immigrant population represents 16.8 percent of the total.
Of the 1'001'062 inhabitants of the Balearics, 167'751 are foreigners.
With regard to the income which immigration generates, the Balearic Government highlighted that the autonomous regions are financed by the traditional taxes, a percentage of income tax and VAT, taxes on registrations, electricity, and fuel.

UNEQUAL “This distribution is unequal because in the case of the regions, when there is a rise in the population, the major part of the taxes with greatest income potential, income tax and VAT, go to the State”.

The Balearic Cabinet highlighted that the idea of a minimum wage for the immigrant population, lower to that of the native population, could “have a negative effect on our tax raising capacity”. The level of consumption of the immigrants is 30 percent less than that of the native population.

For a few years, the Balearic Cabinet has been complaining that the regions with the biggest increases in immigrant population, among them the Balearics, are the worst financed per head in comparison with those regions who have a lower immigrant population and who have had an increase in their finances.

The Balearic Government hopes that there will be a solution soon.
The number of immigrants in the Balearics is the highest in Spain and is almost double the average for the entire country.
While foreigners make up 16.8 percent of the Balearic census, the national average is 8.5 percent, according to the report.
The State, however, does recognise that the number of foreigners in the Balearic Islands is very high in a region where there is already a great pressure of population, as in Madrid.