The forthcoming reform of the Spanish Life Conditions Survey : some extension proposals from an applied perspective

The Spanish Living Conditions Survey (ECV) is the statistical production for Spain of the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), encouraged and coordinated by Eurostat. This article presents some suggestions of improving the Living Conditions Survey elaborated by INE, in view of its upcoming reform, foreseen within the updating process of the EU-SILC project promoted by Eurostat. In particular, this paper reviews the incorporation of information from administrative registers, especially data from tax sources, as well as others from Social Security records. This work includes a series of proposals to improve the quality of currently gathered information in the ECV for Spanish personal income tax (IRPF), social contributions and social benefits. In addition, some extensions are proposed in relation to information on access to the main dwelling and its financing.