About 25% of the entire economy of Almería is “black”, or in other words, is undeclared and no tax is paid on it. And the percentage is expected to grow as the recession bites.
That’s according to the Tax Office, no less.
Lástima que no haya un Nobel de Economía sumergida.
— Hugo Bonet (@HugoBonet) October 15, 2012
Frankly, I reckon it’s higher than that. I was in a well known mechanics in Vera the other day, where there were two queues for the till. In other countries you might be asked “paper or plastic”? Here, the two chaps at the till were monotonously asking everyone “IVA or no IVA”?
No IVA says the GF (it was a personal purchase). 2€ and a bit was duly knocked off my bill and my money went into a separate pot.
True story.
El gobierno fomenta la economía sumergida: Los autónomos pagarán hasta un 53% más http://t.co/vH9UJJVY
— Carlos César Alvarez (@CCAvz) October 16, 2012
Still, at least this means we don’t have the social unrest you’d expect with a 35% unemployment rate. Everyone is working, they just aren’t bothering to pay any taxes. Understandable really, when the average Spaniard knows that if he/she does pay taxes, it just goes into the back pocket of the nearest politician.