Dilip Kuner
FLUNKEYS of the Spanish Government have allegedly pressured the University of Sevilla to cancel an international conference that questions the practices of the country’s tax authorities.
The senior representatives were acting on behalf of the government and Hacienda, according to sources.
The Dean of the Faculty and the organizers rejected those pressures and have continued with the forum, which is being held over two days as planned.
They were however forced to modify the design of the posters, change the title of the event, and remove part of the information published on the Internet.
This attempt at censorship, unprecedented in the academic sphere, occurred after a well-known lawyer publicly called for the cancellation of the event on LinkedIn, intensifying tensions between the Treasury and its critics.
The controversy revolves around allegations by the UK firm Amsterdam & Partners, which accuses the Tax Agency of violating fundamental rights of taxpayers in Spain.
The company’s campaign began with a focus on the so-called ‘Beckham Law’, designed to attract high-income foreign professionals through tax advantages. It subsequently expanded to the defence of Spanish taxpayers.
“We regret that the Government attempted to silence this debate, although it does not surprise us,” Robert Amsterdam told the Olive Press today.
“We appreciate the courage of the university in maintaining the event, and we will continue to vigorously challenge the illegal and abusive practices of the Treasury,” he added from the Andalucian capital.
The conference, which begins today at the Law Faculty of the University of Sevilla, constitutes a new chapter in the campaign that the London law firm has been developing for nearly a year against the Spanish tax authority.
Earlier this year the team launched the ‘Treasury Against the People’ initiative with a controversial advertisement in the Financial Times, in which they described the anti-fraud services as ‘pickpockets’.
The program includes roundtable debates with titles as provocative as ‘Citizens or Serfs?’ ‘The Tax Agency: The New Leviathan’ and ‘Corruption and Dysfunction Find Refuge in the Treasury’.
One of the sessions will examine whether Spanish tax practices are compatible with the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Tax expert Christopher Wales, former member of the British Government’s Council of Economic Advisers, will deliver today’s opening lecture.
Robert Amsterdam himself will speak tomorrow, October 1.
The forum is being held in the Auditorium of the Law Faculty and is open to the public.
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