Every head in the trough
Mariano Rajoy recently promised a long list of reforms that he will implement, he says, when he becomes President of the Government. Most thinking Spaniards hope he is being truthful. The cost of running modern Spain is ruinous, and has been ruining the state for long enough. The problem started with the coming of democracy and a Constitution. A group of politicians sagely decided to divide the country into seventeen ‘autonomous communities’. Roughly speaking, these invented communities were once known as ‘regions’, Cataluña, Madrid, Galicia etc. Though each community has its own Parliament, and an Assembly running its capital town, and is able to press taxation on its citizens, it is the extraordinarily high cost of running these communities which makes them apply for more, much more, from Spain’s coffers as an added subsidy. What this is worth per community can be found on the Internet. The sum per annum varies according to geographical size and population as well as other factors. (more…)