The tax pressure endured by the self-employed and small business owners in Spain has become a recurring debate in recent years. Sectors such as lottery administrationsmade up mostly of family businesses or small companies, denounce that tax obligations, which include VAT, personal income tax, withholdings and, in the case of companies, corporate tax, represent a burden that is difficult to assume.
A problem that Jesús Ibáñez, owner of the Lottery administration number 13 of Almeríaduring an interview for NewsWorkwhere he describes the day-to-day fiscal activities of his activity. “VAT returns are quarterly and, in short, we face all the taxes required of any company or self-employed person,” he explains, pointing out the taxes he has to pay for running an administration.
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Denounce the fiscal burden that exists in Spain
The businessman emphasizes that the tax burden is not limited to the tax on profits. That is to say, the taxes that a small business owner must pay are not only reduced to the tax on the profit or profits obtained at the end of the year.
In recent years, the flight of large fortunes or even digital content creators to countries with more benign tax systems, such as Andorra, has revived the debate about the tax burden in Spain. “Many times we hear on television that people who earn a lot of money are leaving Spain,” says Jesús, in reference to cases of youtubers or high-level athletes. “But their tax burden is 50%. Although they make a lot of money, half of it goes to the Treasury,” he adds.
“The self-employed are confused with large companies like Mercadona or El Corte Inglés”
However, the lottery administrator emphasizes that the underlying problem also affects those who do not have large assets or million-dollar incomes. “The middle class of Spain suffers or endures a very large tax burden,” he maintains. In his opinion, the tax pressure is not limited to large taxpayers, but impacts the self-employed and small business owners, forced to face a system of taxes and withholdings that, according to his complaint, makes the survival of their businesses difficult.
“You pay an exaggerated amount of taxes, withholdings, contributions…” says Jesús, emphasizing that “the self-employed person is often confused with large companies like Mercadona or El Corte Inglés, but the reality is that the small business owner only has one or two employees and faces similar obligations.”
“Sometimes, the small self-employed person does not have employees, or he has one or two employees who help him, and it seems that he is a big businessman and that we have to squeeze from there.”
And although the lottery administrator defends the existence of taxes as a mechanism to support public services, he warns of the risk. “I am in favor of taxes, but as long as they don’t suffocate you,” he confesses, referring to a system that endangers the continuity of many small businesses and discourages self-employment by placing the survival threshold ever higher for those who want to start a business. “We are going towards a precipice where there are many people who find it difficult to reach. And it is because of the tax burden that Spain has,” he concludes.