Hi, Pablo here
+ ++
A note for the future: the tax bleeding in 2025
++ I hate taxes deeply. I fell through the rabbit hole of libertarian and + anarcocapitalist ideas some years ago, and taxes have been repulsive + to me ever since. I go to great lengths to not pay them, and feel + deeply hurt everytime they sting my wallet against my will. +
++ I know life goes by fast, and what today is vivid in your memory fades + away bit by bit until it's gone. I'm truly hoping that, some day in + the future, the world will have changed to the better and people won't + be paying as much tax as we're doing today in the West. Since in that + bright, utopical future I'm dreaming of I might have forgotten about + how bad things were on this matter in 2025, I've decided to make a + little entry here making an estimate on how many taxes I'm + theoretically bleeding on a yearly basis right now. So that we can + someday look back in time and wonder: "how the fuck did we tolerate + that pillaging". +
+Inventory
++ Before going hard into the number crunching let's list all the tax + items I'm aware of being subject to: +
+-
+
- + Income Tax: for the sin of making money, the state takes a hefty + bite of my salary. + +
- + Social Security: the state runs a forceful Social Security + programme. If you work, it is illegal to not pay for it. It is + specially unnerving since it is quite literally a ponzi scheme. At + least Madoff lured you into it with pretty words, not violence. + +
- + VAT Tax: for the sin of buying stuff, the state takes another hefty + bite. + +
- + Real State Tax: for the sin of owning an apartment, the state + charges me rent. Do I own it actually? + +
- + Vehicle Tax: for the sin of owning a motorcycle, the state charges + me a yearly fee. + +
- + Wealth Transfer Tax: when you buy real state, you must pay 10% of + its value in taxes. This is a one off fee if you only buy one house + in your lifetime, but it is such a slap on the face that it would be + dishonest to not consider it. + +
- + Inheritance tax: you thought you were going to keep daddy's loot all + for yourself? When you inherit, you'll go through the register + again. Like the wealth transfer tax, is not a frequent one, but it's + big so let's consider it. + +
+ There may be some other small, less frequent taxes that I'm not + considering. These are the ones that will hit most people in my + country. +
+The numbers
++ Okay, let's go compute the hideous bill. I'll make a hypothetical + profile that's roughly close to mine, with a few assumptions along the + way. +
+-
+
- + Salary: online sources say the typical salary for my job + position in my area is 70k€ yearly. Including the Social Security + paid by the company, the sum rises to ~85K€. I consider this way of + measuring honest, since I think that all the money paid out by the + employer reflects what's the true salary and value of the employee. + I read it as, "the company is willing to pay 85K€ for this. What + ends up in the employees pocket, and what in the State's, they don't + mind". + +
- Expenses: I'll assume I spend half of my salary. +
- + Home Purchase: I'll assume that, during my adult life, I + would buy once the average home in my town. From what I could find + online, that's somewhere around 500K€. + +
- + Vehicles: I own a motorcycle and share the expenses of a + car with my partner, so I'll count 1.5 vehicles. + +
- + Inheritance tax: I found a figure stating the average + windfall in my country is 250K€. We'll go with that. + +
With those clear, let's see the actual figures:
+| Tax | +€/year | +
|---|---|
| Income Tax (IRPF) | +22,401 € | +
| Social Security (worker + employer) | ++ 25,375 € + (worker 4,445 € + employer 20,930 €) + | +
| VAT (blended basket) | +5,250 € | +
| Real Estate Tax (IBI) | +1,000 € | +
| Vehicle Tax (1.5 vehicles) | +225 € | +
| Wealth Transfer (10% home, spread 50y) | +1,000 € | +
| Inheritance (7% of 250k, spread 50y) | +350 € | +
| Total | +55,602 € | +
+ So there you go. A peaceful existence as a tech professional living a + normal life leads to bleeding at least 55K€ per year, all while + getting an 85K€ salary. The tax rate sits at a wonderful 64%. How far + away is this from hardcore USSR-grade communism? +
++ And this is generous, since I didn't model (1) what gets stolen + through inflation diluting savings and (2) any capital gains that this + profile might end up paying for whatever investments he is doing with + his savings. +
++ Then you'll see mainstream media puppets discussing why young people + don't have children. As if it was some kind of mistery. They're being + robbed their children's bread left and right, while getting hypnotized + into believing that protecting themselves against this outrageous + robbery is somehow morally despicable. +
+Motherfuckers.
++ +