Demographic ageing, falling birth rates, work-life balance and issues of dependency have brought family policies back into the spotlight. Protection of the family is one of the guiding principles of the Welfare State, yet in Spain budgetary support to the family and social protection has come on little in the past three decades compared to remaining members of the EU-15.

This book looks in depth at the budgetary policies being deployed in Spain for family protection, on both the income side and through public spending. It opens with a theoretical section which examines in detail the main family support policies existing in Spain, accompanied by an exhaustive comparative analysis with the policies pursued in other EU-15 countries. In a second, empirical section, the authors use microsimulation techniques to evaluate different proposals for tax reforms affecting the family in the spheres of both direct and indirect taxation. This is followed by a comprehensive study of the treatment of the family in personal income tax, focusing on the recent reform measures and their main novelties regarding the taxation of savings and the application of benefits linked to the taxpayer’s personal and family circumstances. Finally, the concluding section offers a simulation of the distributive and welfare effects of reducing VAT on children’s items.

As such, it will be a useful work of reference not only for engaged academics and researchers but also for public decision-makers in this area and, in sum, all those wishing to enlarge their knowledge of an issue of such key economic, social and political importance as family protection.