Shakira Breaks Silence on Tax Scandal, Compares Spain’s IRS to the Inquisition

In a bold statement that can only be rivaled by the raw honesty in Bzrp Music Sessions, Episode 53, Colombian superstar Shakira has finally broken her silence about her painful battle with the Spanish tax authorities.

In a letter published in Spanish newspaper ‘El Mundo’, the singer-songwriter passionately defended herself against the tax fraud allegations and explained why she decided to settle the case. She also compared Spain’s Tax Authority (Hacienda) to the infamous Inquisition, which was notorious for its ruthless pursuit of heretics during the Middle Ages.

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Shakira also accused the Spanish government of structural masculinity and revealed that she earned no money during the years she lived in Barcelona with her then-boyfriend Gerard Piqué, the father of her two children Milan and Sasha.

Shakira, who paid more than $8 million to settle allegations that she failed to pay about $16 million in taxes between 2012 and 2014, took the opportunity to address what she described as a decade-long personal and financial struggle. “The most frustrating part,” she wrote, “was realizing that a state institution seemed more interested in burning me alive at the stake than listening to my story.”

She explained that her decision to finally speak out was largely driven by a desire to protect her children and clear her name. “I need my children to know that I made the decision to protect them, to be there for them, and to move on with my life. Not out of cowardice or guilt,” Shakira wrote in the letter.

Shakira also accused the Spanish Tax Authority of fabricating a story that combined a desire to build a relationship with Piqué, who was living in Spain at the time, with the intention of establishing permanent residency in the country. “One was the desire to settle in a country, and the other, very different, desire to develop a strong relationship in that country. They combined the two to make me a tax resident since 2011, and created obligations that did not exist,” she explained.

Shakira’s criticism of the Spanish tax authorities does not end there. She argues that the agency’s treatment reflects deeper sexism within the organization. “If the singer were an American man who loved a Spanish woman and visited her regularly, I find it hard to believe that the tax authorities would consider him to have any intention of establishing his origin,” she argues.

“There is a structural masculinity that says women can only follow men, even if it’s not to their advantage. A masculinity that still exists in parts of the state bureaucracy in a society that — fortunately — thinks very differently now,” Shakira added.

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The artist’s letter also explains why she reached a deal with Spanish prosecutors to settle the case, agreeing to pay a large fine to avoid what could have been a protracted legal battle that could have resulted in eight years in prison.

Despite the settlement, Shakira maintained her innocence, stating, “I always try to do the right thing and set an example for others.” She went on to criticize the tax authorities for pursuing her case aggressively, as they have with other high-profile individuals, in what she saw as an attempt to make an example of her.

Shakira also addressed the emotional toll the case has taken on her, describing the years-long battle as “a decade of financial loss.” She recounted how her finances were scrutinized not only by Spanish authorities but also by organizations like the IRS and the White House, all of which found no wrongdoing. “In all that time, they never found the slightest hint of illegality,” she wrote, expressing her frustration with the ordeal and alleged unfair treatment by Spanish tax authorities.

At the end of the letter, Shakira reflected on her need to take control of her story, drawing inspiration from her late friend, Colombian Nobel Prize in Literature winner Gabriel García Márquez. She noted that while Márquez believed in “living to tell,” she found herself “telling to live” in order to reclaim her story and move on with her life. “There is more truth about me than everything that will be published by 2023,” she concluded, expressing her intention to put the controversy behind her and focus on her career and family.

Her next move is her sixth world tour titled “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran”, which begins on November 2 in Palm Desert, California.

Shakira’s letter about her tax troubles translated into English:

In 2023, I live surrounded by cameras eagerly waiting to show the world how I will fall apart. No detail is left out: the tax trial, the divorce covered by the media… it is a spectacle too fascinating to ignore. But the most unpleasant thing is realizing that a State institution seems more interested in burning me alive at the stake than listening to my story. Well, I believe it is time to deliver it.

I knew from the start that the IRS’s fabricated story confused and manipulated two completely different intentions: one was the desire to settle in a country, and the other, very different, the desire for a developing relationship in that country to prosper. They swapped one for the other to make me a tax resident since 2011 and create obligations that did not exist. I understand now, because I experienced it firsthand, that an organization created to serve citizens should not use all its power and resources to arbitrarily criminalize people as it sees fit, but everyone knows that romance sells.

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In 2011, I wanted my relationship with Gerard Piqué, who was then tied to Spain for work, to develop, but traveling to Spain caused me a lot of trouble because it forced me away from my workplace. Whenever I returned, it was to develop the relationship, not out of “long-term desire.” An underlying bias in this strategy was also sexist. If the singer were an American man in love with a Spanish woman and visited her regularly, I found it hard to believe that the IRS would consider him to have any intention of settling down. There is a structural patriarchy that says a woman can only pursue one man, even if it is not in her best interests. A patriarchy that persists in the realms of the state bureaucracy in a society that—thankfully—thinks very differently today. Some technicians from the Spanish Tax Agency have come up with a childish and moralistic story in which I am a singer who has shirked his tax obligations, and they are the representatives of justice and decency. The reality is very different: I have always fulfilled my obligations. My finances have been investigated by less suspect institutions such as the White House or the IRS and approved by other European Union countries, and in all that time they have never found the slightest sign of illegality, while a general inspector of the Spanish Tax Agency has allowed himself to criminalize me on a television show even before the trial has been held. Can we trust an institution that respects our presumption of innocence when it condemns us in public before it has reached a verdict?

But the Tax Authority is not there to punish those who do not comply, it is there to show off hunting trophies to rebuild tarnished reputations. And how do they do that? By scaring people, threatening them with jail terms, damaging our children’s peace of mind and pressuring us to break down. They try to make the public believe that I did not pay taxes, when in fact I paid more than I should have. When it was appropriate to do so, I declared myself a tax resident of Spain and if you add up all the money I paid voluntarily and the ridiculous fines, you will find that the Spanish State withheld a sum greater than all my income for those years. It may seem incomprehensible, but for me, the decade in Spain was a decade of financial loss, and not because I worked less, as everyone knows. I gave 120 concerts in 90 different cities. How can someone who gives 120 concerts lose money? It sounds strange, I know, but my assets now consist of what I earned before I came to Spain and what I earned after I left. Everything I earned during those years was confiscated by the Spanish State.

When I decided to live in Spain under the expat regime in 2015, the Tax Office admitted that I had not been a resident for the previous 10 years, only to then try to charge me for those years. What seemed like a polite way to formalise my situation turned out to be a trap. In the 2011 case, this strategy was particularly scandalous because I had only been in Spain for 73 days, while the law stipulates that the minimum for becoming a tax resident is 183 days. Someone who spends time travelling around the world cannot intend to be financially resident in a place just because they live there with someone they are in a relationship with at the time. It would be like thinking that a tourist passing through Ibiza on holiday should become a tax resident just because they have a romantic relationship with a local.

Some may wonder why I bother to make these statements now. The first reason is for my children. We have had to live in an age marked by the arrogance of the state, but overpowering is not the same as giving reasons. Threatening people is not the same as convincing them. If they want us to believe in institutions, they should convince us that the institutions believe in us. Things cannot be fixed by burning a public figure at the stake every year, as if it were some Inquisition process to regain lost credibility.

For my children, I want to leave a legacy of a woman who calmly stated her reasons in her own time when she felt it was necessary, not when she was forced to. I need them to know that I made my decision to protect them, to be there for them, and to move on with my life. Not out of cowardice or guilt. I want them to understand that my love for Spain and my beloved Spanish friends and family remains, but that not everything is the same. Sometimes, a commitment to the truth is more important than one’s own comfort. If at that time I decided to settle for the sake of my children, this time I choose to speak up because my conscience demands it.

The second reason is the need to write my own story. My dear friend Gabriel García Márquez, whom I miss very much, titled his memoirs “Living to Tell the Story”. Literature was so important to him that he thought he lived to be able to tell it. Well, in the same way, I “tell it to live”, to be able to reclaim my life so that no one else writes my story for me. Just like with my songs, I sing to live in peace again, to turn the page.

Sometimes a song can win a lot of awards and fame, but those are not necessarily the most loved songs. The most loved songs are the ones that help us build ourselves up, the ones we secretly turn to when we want to remember who we are, and the ones we use to tell others who we are. Yes, there is more truth about me in this little article than everything published in 2023. Maybe the IRS officials who judged me would not be happy to read it, but honestly, I don’t really care. I didn’t write it for them.

Shakira Tags, News

Source: https://anhngunewlight.edu.vn
Category: Blog