It is a recurring debate in our country: where the great fortunes pay their taxes. These days there have been several youtubers who have confessed that they have gone to Andorra to live with the intention of paying less taxes. The debate has arisen with the confession of ‘El Rubius’ in one of his broadcasts. That direct was followed by a statement in which he assured that he has been paying “almost half of what he has earned in taxes for ten years and that, although he is very happy to have paid them, it bothers him that“ the Treasury has treated me as if I were a criminal ”.
The data of ‘El Rubius’
- More than 39 and a half million followers on YouTube. 16 million on Twitter or 14 on Instagram
- In 2020 it has earned 4.3 million euros
- Makes video game content. Characters like Jennifer Lawrence or Will Smith have been on her channel
- He has a comic and is even a character in a video game
The most famous youtuber in our country has been joined by other streamers such as Wall Street Wolverine, Vegeta777 or TheGrefg. The latter thinks that “our freedom hurts too much.” But, there are also others who do not share his philosophy. On that side, the most visible head has been Ibai Llanos who has given the rejoinder saying that “it is normal that people who earn a lot of money are taken away a lot of money and even more that they should take away.” Adding that people who earn less should still be taxed less.
“Our partner @ainhoa_mhoyos highlights the words of @IbaiLlanos: “It seems to me very good that Ibai of the cotrarreplica to get the message across”
We are telling you in # LaHoraDeLa1https://t.co/GesHjMSqQA pic.twitter.com/0LZwPF32UE“
– The Hour of the 1 (@LaHoraTVE) February 1, 2021
In ‘La Hora de la 1’ we have analyzed how much taxes we pay in Spain and what is allocated. We have done it hand in hand with the journalist Carlos Conde.
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Spain, below the European average in tax pressure
The tax burden is the sum of the taxes we pay together with the contributions of workers and companies with respect to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The European average is 41%. At the top of the list – according to Eurostat data – France and Denmark, followed by Ireland, where there is less tax burden, with 22.7%. Our country is in position nineteen with 35.4%, well below the average. This pressure can go up or down depending on the economic situation of each country. So in a crisis, for example, in which there are fewer hires – and therefore fewer contributions are paid – or more companies are closed – and there is less collection – this tax burden would drop. In 2008, for example, it was reduced and then it has been recovering.
But, how would the problem of the collection in Spain be solved? According to the economic journalist Rafael Bernado, the country’s photography would be summed up in rather low salaries and other very high ones, so that “what we lack in income tax collection would not be achieved by raising rates but by raising salaries.” With the data in hand, the professor of Philosophy of Law at UNED, Borga Barraqué, thinks something similar. “It is absolutely fallacious that the Spanish tax system is a kind of institutionalized Robin Hood that robs the rich to give disproportionately to the poor. In fact, it is a fairly comparable average rate whether you are very rich or poor, something that contradicts the Constitution itself ”, he assured.
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Where is it collected?
Contributions to Social Security are the ones that contribute the most to collection in our country. In this regard, Spain is about eight points above the European Union. If we talk about personal income tax, VAT or other consumption taxes such as Corporation Tax, the European average is above us. The same is not the case with Property Tax, which in Spain is almost two points higher than the average.
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Tax sustains the welfare state
All these taxes go to the country’s budgets. Much of it to social spending. The bulk would go to pensions (164,000 million euros), followed by unemployment (25,000 million) or economic benefits (20,623 million). To the game that goes the least, the culture that takes 1,148 million. But there is also another large block that would correspond to spending on public debt, defense, security or justice.
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Expense evolution
Pensions, public debt, unemployment … the evolution of spending in each of these items varies according to the economic situation. Pensions are taking more and more part since Spain is increasingly aging. In 25 years they have gone from supplying 40,000 million euros to the State to 163,000 million today. Or what is the same, 40% of the total collection. In the case of unemployment and public debt, it increases in the environment of economic crisis as in 2008. In the case of transfers from the State to other administrations, it decreases, spending is cut and less money is transferred.
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The expert’s opinion
The controversy generated by the march of these young people to Andorra is not new. For this reason, the journalist Rafa Bernardo has wanted to insist that “it is not enough to live half the year there, but rather that you have to have the bulk of the activity there.” What’s more, the Treasury will look for taxpayers with large assets who pretend to live abroad to avoid taxes.
For the sociologist of the Complutense University of Madrid, César Rendueles, this debate surprises him since the only thing that is happening “is that some individuals with high incomes are beginning to apply the logic that large companies were already following that stop paying the State every year 13,000 million euros ”. In his opinion, now only “what we have normalized for decades” is being paid.
The expert wanted to emphasize that the taxes benefit all the country’s inhabitants. With a conservative calculation, he assured, “if we compare benefits with taxes, only the richest 20% of Spaniards put in more than they receive.” In his opinion, in addition, not only taxes are essential elements such as Health, Education or Justice, but “taxes also have a certain pedagogical function, preventing the richest from hoarding not only too much money, but power” .
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