Spain's treasury has today published that Catalonia's fiscal deficit, that is, the difference between the money it sends to Madrid and the money it receives back, reached 9.892 billion euros in 2014. According to the calculations of the System of Territorialised Public Accounts, that 2014 total equals 5.02% of the gross domestic product (GDP), the amount of 2014 amounts to 5.02% of the gross domestic product (PIB). In other words, each Catalan gives 1,317 euros for nothing in return. Also net contributors to the statewide balance are the citizens of the autonomous communities of Madrid (per capita deficit of 2,979 euros), Valencia (374 euros) and the Balearic Islands (1.373 euros).
The Treasury last year published the balances for 2013, which calculated Catalonia's fiscal deficit with the State at 8.8 billion euros, equivalent to 4.53% of GDP. As for 2012, the Treasury calculated the deficit as 7.666 billion euros, 3.87% of GDP. These figures show a large growth in the negative balance between the Catalan economy and Spain over the last two years.
According to the figures from the department headed by the Minister of the Treasury and Public Administration, Cristóbal Montoro, four of Spain's seventeen autonomous communities are financially sustaining the rest: Catalonia (with a balance of -9.892 billion euros), the Community of Madrid (-19.205 billion), Valencia (-1.735 billion) and the Balearic Islands (-1.516 billion). Among the beneficiaries, Andalusia stands out, with a fiscal surplus of 7.689 billion euros (5.54% of its GDP) and the Canary Islands, with 4.293 billion (10.8% of their GDP).
Table of fiscal balances from the System of Territorialised Public Accounts [Translator's Note: Ceuta and Melilla are autonomous cities, not communities]
The Treasury calculates the fiscal balances using the so-called "carga-beneficio" (charge-profit) method promoted by the Fedea research foundation led by Ángel de la Fuente. This method is based on where the payees and beneficiaries live, regardless of where any given service might be carried out.
However, others argue for using the "flujo beneficio" (profit flow) method which attributes the income to the territory where the economic burden falls and the spending to the territory where it is carried out, independent of where the theoretical beneficiaries reside. With this method, Catalonia's fiscal deficit reached 14.623 billion euros in 2012, equivalent to 7.5% of its GDP, according to a 2016 study published by the Catalan government.