It’s no secret that owning a vehicle brings with it a series of expenses. Breakdowns, maintenance and taxes are the most common, but the smartest have found formulas to ensure that these taxes make less of a dent in their pockets.
Thus, companies with large fleets are starring in an exodus from large cities to smaller municipalities where the Tax on Mechanically Traction Vehicles, known as circulation tax, is more friendly . “Tax havens”, as they are called by Associated European Motorists (AEA), and one of which is located in the province of Burgos, near the border with La Rioja.
This is Fresno del Río Tirón, a small town with only 172 residents and that monopolizes the representation of Castilla y León in a recent AEA report that draws up a list of those 25 “tax havens” for vehicle registration . Not surprisingly, according to Traffic data, it has 1,406 registered, which means eight for each inhabitant, and of which 223 registered over the past year only in the name of legal persons, that is, companies. In 2021, moreover, the figure was 181.
With these figures, Fresno del Río Tirón far exceeds the rate of vehicles per inhabitant in countries such as the United States or Japan, as pointed out by Associated European Motorists, and from where they add that all this situation is due to rental companies or mainly, they establish a branch in these municipalities to be able to register all their vehicles there and save a significant amount of money each year.
On the opposite side, the corresponding municipalities also obtain a consideration, since in this way they pay the Tax on Mechanically Traction Vehicles for many more units than they would under normal circumstances.
The president of Associated European Motorists, Mario Arnaldo, explains in statements to this newspaper how it is possible to reach these scenarios. In the first place, he clarifies that the circulation tax is managed directly by the town halls , which means that it is “immediately collected”. In the same sense, he details that there is a Local Treasury Law for the entire territory of the country that establishes basic rates for this tax, giving each consistory the possibility of applying a percentage increase up to a maximum.
And it is here where Fresno del Río Tirón takes center stage, since an increase coefficient of 1.1% applies to the basic rate, as confirmed by AEA. Thus, in the case of an average car, which is between 8 and 11.99 fiscal horsepower, the owner company pays 37.49 euros compared to the 62.62 that would correspond if the vehicle was registered in Burgos capital.
But the savings can be greater, since the regulations also allow the municipal government to apply a series of bonuses of up to 75%. In the case of this town in Burgos, it reaches 50% for electric and hybrid cars that run on biofuel or that run on diesel or gasoline as long as they comply with the EURO6 regulations . Requirements, according to Arnaldo, that fit with practically any new vehicle, which are also those that become part of the company fleets.
And for those who don’t, there is also a 40% bonus for vehicles that fit the EURO5 emissions standard . But the facilities offered by this council go even further, since there is also a 15% discount on the IVTM for all vehicles.
With these premises, the president of AEA offers an example that allows us to understand the situation much better. Taking as a reference the 223 vehicles registered by companies in Fresno in 2022, with the Burgos capital tax their holders would have to pay a total of 13,964 euros , while in this town close to the La Rioja community the amount is reduced to a third, 4,180 euros.
In addition, this amount is injected directly into the coffers of the City Council , which otherwise would have to be satisfied only with the income derived from the vehicles owned by some of its neighbors because, as they remember from AEA, there is an important part of the population that does not He has a car, motorcycle or similar in his name. On the contrary, as a “tax haven”, collection increases significantly.
All these figures correspond to the most common type of vehicle on Spanish roads, but it should be noted that the minimum circulation tax established by Law also varies depending on the unit in question. In the case of passenger cars and vans, for example, the taxes increase as the fiscal power increases, a different figure from that offered by the engine.
Mopeds and motorcycles have different rates, with the particularity that in the latter the variation criterion is the engine displacement. Finally, in heavy-duty industrial vehicles, such as trucks, the criterion lies in their maximum weight.
This newspaper contacted directly the mayor of Fresno del Río Tirón, David Carcedo, to ask him about the rather anomalous situation in which his municipality finds itself. In this sense, the councilor argued that the number of registered vehicles is due solely to “very good conditions” and an “attractive tax”, although he also argued that the figures available to the town of Burgos are not particularly striking. “There aren’t that many either,” he added.
In any case, to support his claims, Carcedo stressed that in Fresno del Río Tirón there are some residents who have companies , and that it is to these companies that the more than 1,400 vehicles registered in the municipality belong.
According to the Traffic census, most of these vehicles, 916, are passenger cars, while 362 vans are counted. There are also 84 trucks weighing less than 3,500 kilos, fifteen motorcycles, eight trucks weighing more than 3,500 kilos, six mopeds, four trailers and one semi-trailer, and one industrial tractor. In addition, according to information provided by AEA, there are nine unclassified vehicles that appear in the “other” category.
In relation to all of the above, it should be clarified that the key in these “tax havens” for companies with large fleets of vehicles resides precisely in their status as companies. In the case of private drivers, they cannot benefit from these lower municipal taxes , because as Mario Arnaldo points out, they have to have an address. In the case of legal persons, on the contrary, and even if they have a registered office, they have the possibility of creating a branch in some of the towns with the lowest taxes.
It should also be noted that within the list prepared by AEA, Fresno del Río Tirón occupies the last position, which means that it is the municipality with the lowest registrations per inhabitant in 2022 and 2021. Precisely, the figures from two years ago place it with a rate of 1.3, equaling the Madrid town of Collado Mediano, while it is very far from Rozas de Puerto Real, also in the Community of Madrid and which leads the table with more than 31 registrations per neighbor, when registering 28,679 new vehicles in 2021 compared to a census of 577 people. In 2022 registrations dropped significantly , although they still exceeded 18,000.
In short, a completely unbalanced scenario in which there are two groups that benefit . On the one hand, the companies that save tens of thousands of euros each year in the Tax on Mechanical Traction Vehicles and, on the other, the municipalities that reduce taxes to a minimum to capture a number of vehicles that, in any other case.
It would be very far away and thus guarantee not inconsiderable income for the municipal coffers in towns with a fairly contained number of residents. However, this does not prevent that there may be those who consider it wrong to consider that it is a type of ‘unfair competition’ towards private drivers, who pay taxes in the towns or cities where they have their domicile.
