Charlie Smith
THE number of Spanish ‘superricos’ millionaires tripled during the last decade, new Government figures have revealed.
In 2017 Spain had 611 ‘super rich’ individuals – those taxpayers whose reported wealth is more than €30 million.
Tax Agency data identifies this as a 74% increase on 2011 when this exclusive group counted just 352 people among its ranks.
This was the same year former Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero brought back property tax as Spain was hit by economic crisis.
In the same period the number of millionaires with a wealth of over €1.5 million also went up by 35% to 60,337.
Meanwhile the estates of Spain’s 202,400 most well-off taxpayers – who pay wealth tax – totalled €669 billion, a 55% surge compared to eight years ago.
Even more impressive is the 110% increase in the total combined wealth of those in the €30 million-plus category since 2011.
However this year’s Tax Agency figures will again raise questions over the lenient policies Madrid has on its super rich.
The Capital is the only Spanish autonomous community where taxpayers don’t pay any ‘estate tax’, thus depriving the public coffers of €955.6 million a year.
The good news for the rich comes against a backdrop of a stark inequality, with the net wealth of Spain’s poorest 50% having decreased by 4% since 2008, according to the Oxfam Intermon report.
Inditex founder Amancio Ortega is Spain’s richest man and the world’s fourth richest man, with a fortune of around €62 billion.
