Reason 37: Only way to stop getting a discriminatory treatment from the Internal Revenue Service and other services

For the past ten years, Catalonia has led the ranking of tax audits from 2004 until 2011. This is the main conclusion from the data that the Spanish government has made public after the ERC group asked Congress on this matter.

The Catalan Republicans have been insisting on this issue for more than ten years. They had the feeling, and it has been confirmed, that Catalan employers received more pressure from the Spanish Internal Revenue Service (HMRC in the UK). So Catalans citizens, again, get an increased pressure that helps  to finance the rest of the state. According to these figures, in Catalonia there were 45,000 inspections, which represents 19% of all Spain.

During the period of the readjustment of the Catalan Organic law “Estatut” the pressure was the strongest, for example in 2005-2006 in Catalonia were 7,000 inspections while in Madrid in 5000 and received 4,400 Andalusia. 2012 is the only time that Catalonia is a leader in tax revisions, 3782 against 4172 in Andalusia.

But also other financial sources that in theory are set up to reinforce the law, hit Catalonia harder than other Spanish nations and regions: Spain has many more speed radars in Catalonia than in the rest of the Spanish state. The Circle of Catalan Business (http://www.ccncat.cat/en) reported that Catalonia there are installed 23.4% of fixed radars in Spain with only 7.4% of kilometers of roads, so that the Catalan nation has four times per mile more radars than the rest of Spain.

But the saddest aspect of this facts is not that Spain has been doing this for the past 300 years. The saddest thing (for them) is that they have no intention of changing anything. Today in the USA Obama has demanded Danny Werfel, official of the budget office of the Internal Revenue Service to resign. He is held responsible for doing something the administration is not suposed to do: To apply extra scrutiny to certain groups of society. In the case of USA, the target were conservative groups. The result of this: “he has to be held fully accountable and resign. Because the IRS as an independent agency requires absolute integrity.” Therefore he must resign.

Spain has been doing this for several years to Catalans and here nobody is asked to resign. Spain is different.

As a matter of fact, this kind of attitude has been going on ever since 1714, at least. Obviously there is here only one solution possible. With an independent state Catalans will not be extra targeted any more, and if they are, at least the money will not go somewhere else. Under Spanish rule I am positive this will never end. I think it will even get worse as Spain’s economy gets worse.

• http://www.elpuntavui.cat/noticia/article/3-politica/17-politica/640602-catalunya-lidera-les-inspeccions-fiscals.html
• http://www.directe.cat/noticia/294224/confirmat-hisenda-ha-cosit-catalunya-a-inspeccions
• http://www.jornal.cat/noticia/19935/per-cada-radar-a-espanya-nhi-ha-quatre-a-catalunya
• http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/16/obama-to-name-budget-official-as-acting-irs-chief/?iref=allsearch