Personal income tax and what the pandemic cost each taxpayer: an economic snapshot in San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Mogán
The evolution of average gross income per taxpayer between 2013 and 2021 in the tourist municipalities of San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Mogán reveals the extreme vulnerability of these local economies to exogenous crises such as the global health emergency. The drop from €25.645 to €19.365 represents an absolute difference of €6.280,49, or a percentage decrease of 24,49%.
In direct comparison, San Bartolomé de Tirajana consistently outperforms Mogán, registering higher income levels and maintaining an annual gap that typically ranges between €1.750 and €3.550 more per taxpayer. In San Bartolomé de Tirajana, the indicator stood at €24.451,95 in 2021, representing a year-on-year increase of 12,03% and a recovery of €2.625,79 per tax return compared to the previous year.
This partial increase served to mask the historic collapse recorded in 2020, a year in which the paralysis of tourism activity plunged income by 14,89% and cost each taxpayer €3.819,73, falling to €21.826,16. Indeed, 2019 had marked the peak of the series with an average of €25.645,89, crowning a decade of continuous growth that had started at €21.309 in 2013.
Mogán, for its part, mirrored this macroeconomic trend with remarkable symmetry, albeit with lower income thresholds. The municipality ended 2021 with an average gross income of €20.900,88, experiencing a 7,93% increase that added €1.535,48 to household incomes.
Like its southern neighbor, Mogán was hit hard by the economic downturn of 2020, suffering a 12,36% contraction that reduced each taxpayer's income by €2.731,35 and lowered the average income to €19.365,40, compared to €22.096,75 in 2019 (the largest historical difference compared to San Bartolomé's €25.645,89 that same year, a record difference of €3.549,14). Historically, Mogán had been consolidating a sustained upward trend since 2014 (when it reached €19.401 after starting from €19.558 in 2013), approaching €22.000 just before the pandemic.
Both cases highlight that, although the rebound capacity after the lifting of restrictions was immediate in percentage terms, the structural dependence on the tourism monoculture continues to dictate the financial stability and the volume of real income of households in the south of Gran Canaria.
