REASONS FOR THE INDEPENDENCE OF CATALONIA: hatred against Catalonia

dilluns, 20 de maig del 2013

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.

dissabte, 13 d’octubre del 2012

Reason 35: No independence = boycott forever. Independence = end of boycotts.

<< Poster calling for boycott of Catalan products 1931. One of the reasons given by some Spaniards against independence is the threat of a boycot of Catalan products. It is not the first time Catalan products have suffered from a Boycott. In 1931 Spaniards called to boycott Catalan products. In 2005, with the negotiation on the new Catalan Organic Law “Estatut”, Spaniards called again to boycott Catalan products. The boycotts have never ceased. Some Spaniards keep track of what companies are Catalan and boycott their products. They have made dozens of web sites dedicated to promote this never ending boycott. What they don’t understand is that the volume of Catalan companies in the Spanish market, partially due to this never ending boycott, has diminished from 80% in the beginning of the nineties, to around 30% today.

Catalan companies understood long ago that the Spanish market was shrinking (and the boycott helped a bit to shrink it even more) and seeked to grow in the European market, with which export has grown and the biggest part of the export volume today is in European countries rather than in Spain. If 20 years ago the majority of the Catalan entrepreneurs saw a necessity to remain under Spanish authority, today the majority of entrepreneurs do not have Spain as the main market any more. As in the 1930’s entrepreneurs feared to loose their advantage to have Spain as market, today Spain is more and more becoming a residual market that does nothing else but shrink. So, not very interesting. The boycott isn’t the only reason why this is happening, but it helps. So I would say to all Spaniards who are working hard to boycott our products: THANK YOU!

Evern since 1931 Spaniards boycott our products. I do not see any reason why they would stop as long as Catalonia is under Spanish dominance. In any case, the effect of the boycott has been calculated and in the worst of the cases it would mean 4% decrease of the Catalan GPD. But as we have a deficit of 8% our economy would anyway grow by 4%. Spaniards sometimes also boycott products from other countries, such as the boycott to French products during the nuclear exercises they carried out in the Pacific Ocean in the 90’s. As long as I can remember Spain hasn’t done any boycott to former colonies who proclaimed independence from Spain last century. Neither does the UK boycott any products of the USA or Ireland because they separated from the UK. Independence might lead to a boycott during the first years. But one thing is sure: we are having boycotts already since 1931. I am positive Spaniards will not boycott forever products from an independent Catalan State in the EU. The boycott will become a historic anecdote of the times in which Spaniards depended on Catalans and Catalans on Spaniards. I think for Catalans this is history already. Video on the positive effects of Spanish boycott (in Catalan): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcH2dfX7oCA&feature=relmfu Article on the effects of a boycott: http://pepegins.com/2012/09/30/atenuacio-de-lefecte-boicot-sobre-els-productes-catalans/ Cercle català de negocis also has done some calculations on this matter: http://www.ccncat.cat/articles/informa/catalunya-superaria-un-boicot-comercial-espanyol-en-cas-que-el-pa%C3%ADs-es-declar%C3%A9s The images of the boycott you can find in several websites dedicated to this Spanish hobby that feeds us of arguments for secession: http://www.forocoches.com/foro/showthread.php?t=455504&page=9 http://www.stralunato.com/2006/12/05/sigue-el-boicot-a-los-productos-catalanes/ http://cosasdegely.blogspot.nl/2012/10/cataluna-no-es-espana-pues-ahi-teneis.html http://lapoliticadegeppetto.blogspot.nl/2012/04/ciclogenesis-explosiva-politica.html