New Year, Same Old, 23. If You Want the Service, Pay the Taxes.

The night before, we were hit by another storm off the Atlantic with a name, this time it was Hortense, named by the French weather bureau. It didn't leave as much damage as the famous storm by the same name that trammeled us over thirty years ago, but it left a few hours of very intense winds. I went to bed late that night, and between bouts of pounding rain, and the howling wind that wouldn't cease, it felt like I was going to bed in the middle of a hurricane. This morning, we have the passage of Ignacio, and it is a windy, wet, grey, dark morning, indeed. I hope that the forecast is correct, and that by afternoon we get peeks of the sun.

On the American front, Joe Biden has signed various executive orders overturning some of Trump's more extreme disdain of different people, and the environment. Of course, the Trumpists in the Senate and Congress are trying to do all they can to hinder the changing of the guard. One, a Q Anon believer, even wants to introduce articles of impeachment against Biden. I don't understand this visceral hatred of Biden simply for being a Democrat. He is definitely not as far left as some Congressional representatives, such as Alejandra Ocasio-Cortez, or as Senator Bernie Sanders. Biden is a completely middle-of-the-road politician. But, the Trumpists will always believe that anyone who isn't as egotistical as their hero, or as selfishly centered as they, is a commie whacko. 

We have people in Spain similar to Trump's friends in the US, who consider taxes an impingement on their rights. The latest to enter into the controversy is a YouTuber who is moving to Andorra to avoid paying taxes in Spain. ElRubius (whoever he is) earns over four million euros a year. Spain taxes at 47% (maximum rate) all earnings above the first 300,000 euros. Andorra's rate is 10%. He isn't the first. Former tennis player Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, and the late opera singer, Montserrat Caballé, also did the same. He won't be the last. But what I ask myself is, how much of a hardship is it to live on over two million euros? Those of us who live under the menace of the end-of-the-month syndrome, wondering if we can eat the last few days before the next paycheck, or putting off paying bills to an understanding provider for a few days, would rejoice in what is left to that young man after taxes. 

Of course, wealth begets more expenses, mostly because of a human perception of "needing" what we really don't need. Do I really need that pair of €300 sneakers? Or that top name brand €1,000 backpack? Or a car that can reach 300 kilometers per hour, even though I can never indulge myself in speed? How many houses can I live in during the year? A former Spanish basketball player, who doesn't lack for money, called out the YouTuber on a video I saw on Facebook. The player, Juanma López Iturriaga, complained that if the YouTuber thought he was being robbed by having to pay taxes, that he should have his head looked at. He continues, asking what kind of an example ElRubius was for the teenagers who followed him, who didn't understand that the services they had been enjoying all their lives are paid for by taxes. He continues, "es que se van los millonarios. Pero si es que ya tienes pasta para siete generaciones." (the millionaires are leaving. But if you already have dough for seven generations.) 

Iturriaga doesn't stop there. "Hombre, es que me enfada como me enfadaba cuando Arantxa Sánchez Vicario estaba en Andorra y tal y llevaba la muñequera con la banderita de España. Lo mismo los futbolistas, o sea, ganas un montón de pasta tío, pues cotiza. No montes estructuras para ahorrarte impuestos. ¿Para qué? Si te vas a morir como todos." ("Man, it's that it gets me angry like I got angry when Arantxa Sánchez Vicario was in Andorra and so and wore the wristband with the little Spanish flag. The same with the football players, or like, you earn a ton of dough, man, so pay. Don't set up structures to save on taxes. For what? If you're going to die like everyone else.")

The rich have always attempted to escape paying their fair share. Yet, they then enjoy the same privileges as everyone else, paid for by taxes. Those who can't reach the end of the month still pay their taxes, even when they don't earn enough to live decently. The rich give the usual complaint of having worked hard to make their fortunes, and that the tax man unfairly targets them. Yet that same tax man has set up loopholes just for them. Ask Amancio Ortega. He's Spain's richest man, yet pays less taxes proportionately than I do, because he takes advantage of all the loopholes. If he paid the maximum rate of 47%, he would still have enough to live on for the rest of his life, his children's lives, his grandchildren's, and his great-grandchildren's, if he didn't earn a cent more. By that same argument of working hard, they are implying that those who can't set aside any money to invest in tax havens, choose to be lazy. 

Close the loopholes.

Life continues.