Better not to do anything. This is the advice that in most cases we have to give to those who consult us about tax issues. From the simplest query to the most complex. That’s the advice: better to do nothing. A council that paralyzes decisions, transmits insecurity, and promotes taxpayer distrust towards those who advise them. This insecurity is responsible: poor legislative technique.
But not everything is attributable to her. A large part of the blame lies with the contradictory interpretation that the Administration, the economic-administrative bodies, and the jurisdictional courts make of the norm.
It is also noticeable the lack of knowledge that most of them have of reality, and the pressure to resolve in shorter terms. Despite this, justice arrives late and never resolves the problems, but rather adds new ones.
Because they are not useful, it now seems that the Binding Consultations that the General Directorate of Taxes resolves are also of very little use. At least that is what some interpret after one of the latest Supreme Court rulings; court, by the way, which was the origin of one of the bloodiest judicial ordeals in matters of interpretation. I am referring to the taxation of directors’ remuneration. More than 20 years of conflict.
In the meantime, the Administration first, and then the courts, have raised very important doubts regarding, for example, research and development, or business restructuring operations.
It has taken years to solve the VAT problem on public transport subsidies.
What can be said about the VAT problem with subsidies to public television stations, still unresolved. Many companies dedicated to culture have also suffered small storms that have left their mark. And I would go on and on with banal and not so banal topics. The common denominator of all of them, and many others, is not the existence of fraud, but discrepancies in the interpretation of the norm. Discrepancies that have their consequences. The problem with transportation actually affected the price of the ticket or card. That of public television is entailing greater resources that the Autonomous Communities and City Councils have had to face to cover the greater financing needs of the different regional or municipal television stations.
Many cultural centers have had to live with water up to their necks pending a late judicial resolution. Its result no longer matters. The damage has already been done. And the topic is not a joke. If the Administration’s theses were successful, some important companies would have had to file for bankruptcy. Other companies are forced by the auditor to provision the debts that some companies have in the appeal phase; situation that deteriorates the image of the company and stigmatizes it. To make matters worse, the only option that the taxpayer has to defend his criteria is to pay or guarantee what the Administration requires of him. A clear and eloquent example of the most absolute inequality between the citizen and the Administration.
In the meantime, the so-called legislator, that is, our politicians and policies, live in a world different from the one that concerns citizens. Except during the electoral campaign period, legal uncertainty is not its priority. It is therefore not surprising that many of them have never worked as freelancers or entrepreneurs. They don’t know that world. They do not know their suffering; his effort. Their only problem is that the rich don’t pay. Of course, they don’t tell us what it means to be rich, because there are very few who really are. So few, that they are not the solution to the problem, although they are part of it.
The fault that the rest of us pay more lies, therefore, with the rich. That is today the entertainment toy that politicians have. Some repeat it whenever they can. So much so that it has permeated society. They have repeated it so much that they have managed to negatively stigmatize the creation of wealth. Anything that smells like a businessman is almost synonymous with being a rich fraudster. Anything that smells like having more than 3, 4, or 5 properties is already being a rentier or fraudulent holder. It is just as if jobs have been invested or created behind their backs. It doesn’t matter.
In the meantime, State aid is being extended more and more without realizing the dependence on the State that we are promoting. It seems that the solution to everything is not work, but help. Depend on them.
But I go back to the beginning. Legal uncertainty is already paralyzing. Not suffocating. Paralyzing.
Curiously, the solution is very easy. It’s called cooperation. That is what the Tax Administration repeats so much. The problem is that cooperating means sitting down to solve problems before they occur, or when they are detected. It is to establish forward interpretive criteria that promote certainty and legal security. It is promoting empathy. The presence. The closeness. It is to dialogue without preconceived ideas. It is to create a joint body made up of the public and private sectors whose sole function is to ensure legal security. It is to promote mediation and arbitration. It is that the Administration also suffers its errors, just as the citizen suffers theirs. It is exemplary.
Otherwise, better not do anything. Or yes, live off the State.
#Insecurity #Taxation
