Pay Up
Taxes. They are so hated and feared, that they were incorporated into the saying, "The only certainties in life are death and taxes." Lately we have been hearing on the news, even here in Spain, on how the Republicans in the United States are revamping the tax code to give more money to themselves and their friends, while the rest of the population can starve to death, for all they care. It seems the Spanish code is also similarly constructed. While deductions are almost non-existent for the earner of the lowest incomes, it seems we have to declare every centime that comes into every household, even the winnings of small Christmas sweepstakes. I'm not against paying taxes in return for services, but sometimes what is considered taxable income is ridiculous.
It's a Christmas tradition in Spain for small associations, bars, companies, etc., to organize a Christmas sweepstakes. For the price of a raffle, you opt for a prize mostly of food: cured ham, wines, liquors, marzipan, candied almonds, cans of peaches, pineapples, cured sausages, chocolates, cans of white asparagus tips, and other, more exotic and expensive goodies.
That's a normal sweepstakes. Then there's the sweepstakes organized by a restaurant in Calamocha, Teruel. Their raffles are worth ten euros each, and they sell 100,000. More people show up to eat in November, when they come out, than at any other time of the year. Their Christmas basket isn't just any Christmas basket. This year's list is the following:
Tesla Model X
Mini Cooper Cabrio
BMW R Nine T Racer motorcycle
Four gold ingots of 1 kilo each, one of 250 grams
Beachfront apartment in Almería
One surprise trip worth €11,000
Panther yellow gold watch
Cartier Drive watch
White gold ring with aquamarine and diamonds
Sony PS4
Nintendo Switch
Virtual reality glasses
Samsung 55 inch television
Yamaha sound bar
Roomba 965
Polaroid Snach Touch Whit (?)
Hoverboard
motorized skateboard
GoPro Hero 6
Bose headphones
PlayStation Plus
The Sub beer system
IPad Pro 10" 256GB
Mac Book Air 13
2 Iwatches
Iphone Plus 8 256GB
Iphone 8 256GB
11 various expensive toys and boardgames
various bottles of Moet Chandon, Veuve Cliquot, and Dom Perignon champagnes
liquors, whiskies, liqueurs, beers
Nestlé and Lindt chocolate
cheeses, hams, sausages
Louis Vuitton suitcases (for the trip, of course)
various Christmas lottery numbers, just in case you haven't won enough yet
The entire thing is worth €500,000. Each year the owners of the restaurant increase its worth. Of course, they have to pay Hacienda. The winner also has to pay taxes on their jackpot. The owners of the restaurant have kindly included the gold ingots solely for that purpose. The winner can sell them, or turn them over to Hacienda upon receipt, and settle their taxes.
But the law states that not only the winner of this gargantuan lot has to pay. If you participate in a sweepstakes and win a simple can of cling peaches, you have to include its worth as earnings for the year on the tax forms. If the company you work for gives you a Christmas basket, it is considered part of your salary, and you have to compute its worth and add it to your final yearly salary. We're talking outrageous, here.
Not everyone declares such winnings. Since they're between private citizens, and nothing is declared anywhere, the only prizes ever declared are ones like the above, that go beyond a mere physical basket. Hacienda also hasn't the manpower to track down and find every winner of every basket, or every company that gives every employee a basket. Where they know how to get you, though, is in money that originates from them.
Some years ago there was a car renewal plan. If you turned in your older-than-12-year-old car when you bought a new one, you got a rebate of €2,000. One thousand came directly from the manufacturer, the other thousand from the government. It wasn't until the following year that those who advantaged themselves of the offer found themselves hunting the papers to check out the fine print. They had to declare the thousand euros that came from the government as earnings and pay taxes on them. Depending on their total income, they paid more or less, but in the end, the rebate wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Of course, it was never mentioned that the buyer had to pay taxes until the tax campaign began the next year. It was mentioned all along in the fine print, but who has a magnifying glass for that? Or the reading skills to understand the twisted legalese it's written in?
One of these days, I bet a circular is going to come from the government, and tell us we have to calculate how much we have to pay in taxes according to how many liters of air we breathe each day. Yup. Death and taxes.
It's a Christmas tradition in Spain for small associations, bars, companies, etc., to organize a Christmas sweepstakes. For the price of a raffle, you opt for a prize mostly of food: cured ham, wines, liquors, marzipan, candied almonds, cans of peaches, pineapples, cured sausages, chocolates, cans of white asparagus tips, and other, more exotic and expensive goodies.
That's a normal sweepstakes. Then there's the sweepstakes organized by a restaurant in Calamocha, Teruel. Their raffles are worth ten euros each, and they sell 100,000. More people show up to eat in November, when they come out, than at any other time of the year. Their Christmas basket isn't just any Christmas basket. This year's list is the following:
Tesla Model X
Mini Cooper Cabrio
BMW R Nine T Racer motorcycle
Four gold ingots of 1 kilo each, one of 250 grams
Beachfront apartment in Almería
One surprise trip worth €11,000
Panther yellow gold watch
Cartier Drive watch
White gold ring with aquamarine and diamonds
Sony PS4
Nintendo Switch
Virtual reality glasses
Samsung 55 inch television
Yamaha sound bar
Roomba 965
Polaroid Snach Touch Whit (?)
Hoverboard
motorized skateboard
GoPro Hero 6
Bose headphones
PlayStation Plus
The Sub beer system
IPad Pro 10" 256GB
Mac Book Air 13
2 Iwatches
Iphone Plus 8 256GB
Iphone 8 256GB
11 various expensive toys and boardgames
various bottles of Moet Chandon, Veuve Cliquot, and Dom Perignon champagnes
liquors, whiskies, liqueurs, beers
Nestlé and Lindt chocolate
cheeses, hams, sausages
Louis Vuitton suitcases (for the trip, of course)
various Christmas lottery numbers, just in case you haven't won enough yet
The entire thing is worth €500,000. Each year the owners of the restaurant increase its worth. Of course, they have to pay Hacienda. The winner also has to pay taxes on their jackpot. The owners of the restaurant have kindly included the gold ingots solely for that purpose. The winner can sell them, or turn them over to Hacienda upon receipt, and settle their taxes.
But the law states that not only the winner of this gargantuan lot has to pay. If you participate in a sweepstakes and win a simple can of cling peaches, you have to include its worth as earnings for the year on the tax forms. If the company you work for gives you a Christmas basket, it is considered part of your salary, and you have to compute its worth and add it to your final yearly salary. We're talking outrageous, here.
Not everyone declares such winnings. Since they're between private citizens, and nothing is declared anywhere, the only prizes ever declared are ones like the above, that go beyond a mere physical basket. Hacienda also hasn't the manpower to track down and find every winner of every basket, or every company that gives every employee a basket. Where they know how to get you, though, is in money that originates from them.
Some years ago there was a car renewal plan. If you turned in your older-than-12-year-old car when you bought a new one, you got a rebate of €2,000. One thousand came directly from the manufacturer, the other thousand from the government. It wasn't until the following year that those who advantaged themselves of the offer found themselves hunting the papers to check out the fine print. They had to declare the thousand euros that came from the government as earnings and pay taxes on them. Depending on their total income, they paid more or less, but in the end, the rebate wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Of course, it was never mentioned that the buyer had to pay taxes until the tax campaign began the next year. It was mentioned all along in the fine print, but who has a magnifying glass for that? Or the reading skills to understand the twisted legalese it's written in?
One of these days, I bet a circular is going to come from the government, and tell us we have to calculate how much we have to pay in taxes according to how many liters of air we breathe each day. Yup. Death and taxes.
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