Between January and December of last year, the Ministry of Finance (MH) received $6,571 million in taxes and contributions, a figure that greatly exceeds the collection of previous governments and positions 2022 as a historic period in fiscal management.
According to the head of the MH, Alejandro Zelaya, in 2022 $737 million more were collected than in 2021, which had already been relevant for the country in fiscal terms, since El Salvador closed as the one that collected the most in Latin America.
“[2022 tax revenue] was almost 13% more than what we collected in 2021, which was a good year. We closed 2021 as the country that collected the most Gross Domestic Product at the percentage level in Latin America, and we believe that in 2023 we will continue to be leaders in the region,” he pointed out.
In addition, he indicated that the goal of income to the State coffers that was had at the beginning of the previous year was exceeded by $252.7 million.
On the other hand, the official pointed out that the improvement in tax revenues with previous administrations is quite notable. In 2018 only $4,769 million were collected; when making the point by point comparison between year and 2022, there is a difference of $1,801.6 million.
The minister attributed this important progress to the application of strategies to reduce tax evasion, which in previous seasons were not carried out.
For example, income tax (ISR) collection totaled $2,782.8 million up to December 2022, with $556.9 million more than in 2021, reaching a year-on-year increase of 25%.
Regarding the value added tax (VAT), the Treasury reported that the collection the previous year amounted to $3,023.6 million, which represents an additional $233.1 million, that is, 8.4% higher than what was obtained the previous year.
«In 2022 we collected 25% more income tax, which shows that there is direct respect for the institutional framework. Likewise, we had a 99.98% compliance regarding the collection of VAT”, he mentioned.