Aragón’s data-center estimate puts the tax formula in focus

A September 2026 estimate attributed to Fundación Basilio Paraíso put the annual operating impact of data centers in Aragón at €1.149 billion, alongside an estimate of 3,217 jobs. The figures put the region’s projected economic impact in context with a separate question: how Spain distributes revenue from the Impuesto sobre Actividades Económicas (IAE), its tax on economic activities.

The tax dispute concerns Amazon Web Services (AWS) facilities in Aragón and the route used to pay IAE. An earlier account of Jorge Azcón’s position on AWS’s IAE payments in Aragón covered the political debate. The legal distribution rule is set out in Article 8 of Royal Decree 1108/1993.

What the September estimate covers

The Fundación Basilio Paraíso estimate concerns annual operating impact and employment associated with data centers in Aragón. It is an estimate, not a tally of tax revenue received by local governments. The two figures also describe different things: economic activity and jobs on one hand, IAE allocations on the other.

AWS has also projected €33.7 billion in investment through 2035. Its reported projections put the contribution to Spain’s GDP at €31.7 billion, including €18.5 billion in Aragón, and average annual employment at 29,900 nationally, including 13,400 in Aragón. These are company projections, not realized totals.

How Spain distributes national IAE revenue

Royal Decree 1108/1993 assigns 80% of national IAE revenue to municipalities and 20% to provincial bodies. The municipal portion is divided using three criteria: population, the number of taxpayers paying municipal quotas, and the total value of municipal tariff quotas. Each criterion accounts for one-third of that municipal allocation.

That formula means national collection does not send the entire amount to Madrid city. Revenue is distributed among municipalities and provincial bodies under the decree’s criteria; the location of a data center alone does not determine how the national-quota share is divided.

Reported annual estimates for four Aragón municipalities

Separate reported estimates assign annual IAE amounts to four municipalities. They are estimates, not confirmed receipts paid into those municipalities’ budgets.