There is no freedom without taxes

These weeks you will hear it again. Some parties, business associations, and influencers will tell you that we live in a tax hell, that they will lower your taxes, that you will have more money in your pocket, and, above all, that you will be freer. These are siren songs. They seem reasonable, but they lead us straight into the rocks. Because nobody ever says the second part of the sentence: what you will stop having if they lower your taxes.

Let's start with the tax hell. Recently, Eurostat has published the 2025 data. In Spain, taxes and social contributions represent 38.1% of GDP, while the EU average reaches 40.7%. We are 2.6 points below the European average, not above it. Denmark reaches 45.1%, Austria 43.9%, and Germany 41.4%. Anyone who wants to maintain that we live in a tax hell will first have to explain what these countries are. It is true that tax collection has grown in recent years, but we remain below the average, and it is not a difference that can be corrected with a tweak to a single tax. A Fedea study concluded that, regarding the eurozone, Spain collected less in almost all major tax figures, from personal income tax to VAT. That the system needs reforms is another conversation: about how we collect and who pays what, not about whether we collect too much.

Let's move to the second part of the sentence. On the other side of what we pay for, there is a hospital that takes care of you, a school for your children, and a pension when you retire. And, if we had done things well over the last few decades, there would also be a place in a nursing home, a train that arrives on time, and a reasonably priced rent. And there is one thing that is almost never said out loud: living well in a community, without ghettos, in a society that does not break apart by neighborhoods. Whoever has enough money will always be able to live behind a fence, with private security, school, and healthcare. But that is not more well-being, not even for them; it is giving up on the country we want.

In Catalonia, without pensions or benefits, 40.4% of the population would live at risk of poverty. Once pensions and benefits are counted, 18.9%, according to Idescat. In between there are 21.5 points, which social protection prevents from falling into poverty or exclusion. This is what is achieved when resources are redistributed and rights are effective. But it is not just about not falling, it is about everyone being able to contribute their potential and that the rights recognized by the Constitution and the laws are truly exercised and do not remain only on paper.

The 3,000 Catalan social entities are supporting more than two million people. From here, one does not see a system with surplus resources that can afford a tax cut. The law establishes that those who request help for dependency must receive a response within six months. In Catalonia, the average wait is 261 days, and 40,624 people have been waiting for more than six months, according to the Imserso. Furthermore, one in three children and adolescents in Catalonia lives at risk of poverty or exclusion. These are not the margins of society. They are the families on the landing and they are many more than the word vulnerable implies.

They will tell you that the tax cut will make the country grow and that the growth will reach everyone, but there is no guarantee of that. The London School of Economics analyzed major tax cuts for the highest incomes in eighteen OECD countries between 1965 and 2015. Result: more inequality and no significant effect on either growth or unemployment. The trickle-down does not reach. What does reach the bottom is the other half of the decision, the cutback. The United Kingdom reduced public spending from 42% to 35% of GDP in a decade and the Marmot review found that life expectancy in England – which had been improving steadily since the end of the 19th century – had stagnated since 2010, and that among women in the poorest neighborhoods it had fallen. There are no natural laws, only political decisions, and if they are not taken, the market distributes as always.

Let's return to the word from the beginning: freedom. They want to sell you that being free means not having an administration that “steals” from you with taxes. It is a small idea. The freedom that counts is not that of not paying, it is that of being able to exercise your rights and move your life forward, you and all of us who live in this country. Being able to get sick without ruining yourself. Being able to study even if there is no money at home. Being able to grow old with good care without mortgaging your children's lives. Being able to leave a relationship that is scary because there is a place to go. You do not build this freedom by yourself, nor can you buy it when you need it. You only have it if it already existed before you needed it, and it only exists if we have all built and paid for it together. In a decent society, freedom is not only individual, it is above all collective. And collective freedom is not free.

Therefore, when they promise to lower your taxes in the coming weeks, ask the full question: what part of my freedom do you want to take from me?