TAX inspectors have called for 'soft' drugs and prostitution to be legalised to cut down on the 'negative effects' on society and the economy and generate more tax income.
Latest estimates by the tax office, Hacienda, prostitution and established brothels in Spain have an annual turnover of around 18 billion euros and, if this were taxed at 30 per cent, would mean an extra six billion a year clawed back for public funds.
The same would be true if cannabis was legalised as a recreational and therapeutic drug, since it would generate a huge hike in tax income and reduce the problem of illegal dealers and the associated crime and violence, says Hacienda.
As a result of cannabis and prostitution becoming legal, Spain's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is barely one per cent at present, would rise to around 4.5 per cent.
From the beginning of June, the National Statistics Institute (INE) will be obliged to include drugs and prostitution in its GDP forecasts, as have a number of other countries in Europe, and say that so far these illicit activities generate about three per cent of the country's income, or around 30 billion euros.
Tax inspector Domingo Carbajo says there is 'a lot of hypocrisy and misplaced morals' surrounding the issue.
Other measures mentioned include scrapping 200-euro and 500-euro notes from circulation, pushing for more businesses to accept credit and debit card payments and discourage cash by placing restrictions on these, obliging banks to provide identity details of their customers, exchange of information between countries, and between the Social Security office and the tax authorities.
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