Shakira Accuses Spanish Tax Office- Compares To ‘The Inquisition’
The Columbian music star Shakira accused the Spanish tax office of the confiscations of her income that she had earned while living in the country. She compared it to the old institution “The Inquisition” in a letter published in El Mundo on Wednesday.
Shakira locked a deal in 2023 to avoid a trial in Barcelona regarding alleged tax fraud. A settlement with the prosecutors was made on the opening day of the trial with the allegations of tax fraud. Shakira was accused of defrauding the tax authorities with €14.5 million between 2012 and 2014.
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The settlement explicitly told Shakira to pay a fine of €7.8 million in order to avoid serving in jail after the trial.
However, she clarified that the decision was made “with the best interest of my kids at heart”. She knew that she has to move on from the stress and emotional roller coaster that she had been experiencing for the past several years. She assured that she wanted to focus on her career.
In the current year, Shakira faced another probe from a Spanish court for the alleged tax fraud for her tax return of 2018 income.
In the El Mundo letter, she revealed, “The Spanish tax office kept more than all my income for those years”. This is not the first time Spain has taxed celebrities heavily. Argentine footballers Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo have been in the slit for unpaid taxable residents previously.
Both players were found guilty of tax evasion but were waived for the imprisonment being the first-time offenders.
What Shakira thought of Spain’s tax office
Shakira wanted people to know that the Spanish tax office was more interested in bringing her down rather than listening to her arguments. She added, “You don’t solve things by burning people at the stake like an Inquisition trial”.
She expressed her devastation by saying that it was “incomprehensible” for her as she had worked more than a decade but it seemed like a decade lost. She also explained that it was not due to her less work and that is everyone aware of.
She stressed in court that she had not spent more than 183 days in Spain from 2012 to 2014, which is a Spanish limitation for a person to pay his income tax. Again, the Spanish tax office had to be sure about the fact and did research on her social media account that clearly indicated her presence in Spain for more than 183 days.
Various witnesses were gathered including her neighbours and hairdresser.
The singing sensation now lives with her two sons in Miami after splitting with Barcelona footballer, Gerard Pique.
