Road tax: does it cost the same everywhere in Spain?

All vehicles have a fixed cost that owners must pay every year, whether they drive them or not. This is the Tax on Motor Vehicles, also known as the IVTM or, more popularly, the road tax. It is managed by the town councils and is calculated based on the CVF, that is, the fiscal horsepower.

This is determined by the administration’s tax calculations, and it is worked out using a rather complex formula. Fortunately, there is no need to do it yourself, since the administration calculates it directly and sends the bill each year. Even so, as it is a municipal matter not subject to State control, each town council applies a different rate, so there can be a large difference from one city to another.

And if we talk about a large difference, it really is a large difference. There are legal limits, but within them a different coefficient can be applied. This means that in some cities paying tax on a vehicle is very cheap, while in others that same vehicle can end up paying up to nine or ten times more.

Every year, the association AEA Club carries out a comparative study of the amounts paid in all the towns of Spain, although the table only includes provincial capitals. It shows the road tax paid in them, and you can view it by clicking on the image below.

It shows the different rates according to fiscal horsepower. For example, we can see that a vehicle with 11 fiscal horsepower would pay an IVTM of 17.04 euros in Melilla, while the same vehicle would pay 85.87 euros in San Sebastián. Madrid sits around the middle, with an IVTM of 59.0 euros.

If it is a 600 cc motorcycle, the road tax in Melilla is 15.15 euros, and in Vitoria it reaches 81.35 euros. The owner of the vehicle must pay this tax even if they sell it, as long as it is registered in their name on 1 January of the current year. If it is scrapped, only the proportional part for the year in which it was registered will be paid, something that must be taken into account.

The IVTM was created 30 years ago in Spain and allows town councils to collect just over 2,000 million euros. The differences in taxes between one city and another mean that fleets and even private owners register their vehicles in towns where it is cheaper.

One of the most curious cases is that of Aguilar de Segarra, in the province of Barcelona. Despite having only 246 inhabitants according to the 2015 census, in 2014 there were 62,030 registered vehicles in the municipality. It is a town where the IVTM is very cheap and owners want to benefit from it.