“It seems that we are tax collectors for the State”

Gloria Llopis, a freelancer in communication and digital marketing, pays 282 euros per month in the self-employed fee and the news that the Government has proposed a new increase – starting next year, progressive depending on the contribution bases, but which will affect 100% of the self-employed, more than three million people – brings back a recurring thought: “It seems that the self-employed are small tax collectors for the State.” Llopis regrets that, instead of receiving aid, those who develop talent initiatives have to pay more and more for working to the point of making it very difficult to become self-employed.

At 53 years old, Llopis has been registered as self-employed since 2022, when she created Comunicacinco after being employed until 2020. “I dedicate myself to digital communication, I do social media management, content creation in general and podcast production with a partner. When I started to have a volume of projects and I started making invoices I decided to register,” she explains. He did it with the help of flat rate for self-employed workers, 80 euros, which will also increase if the proposal from Minister Elma Saiz’s team is finally approved.

She found out about this new increase in the self-employed quota on the radio and says that it doesn’t scare her “much more” because it already seems “terrifying what I have right now.” The 282 euros fee that has forced him to start looking for a job on Linkedin to pay expenses and continue maintaining his business bet. Llopis defends that any increase, mainly in the low collection sections, “disincentives.” “We are suffering workers,” he says, “something that I often think about comes to mind, that It seems that we are small tax collectors for the State or objects for others to do business with us“he complains.

Llopis belongs to the Network of Entrepreneurs on the Move (Rem), made up of 150 self-employed businesswomen, all women, from the mountains of Madrid. From his relationship with them he knows that being self-employed only compensates for the motivation to do what they are good at and like. “But on a day-to-day basis, self-employed life leaves you exhausted because you see that the bills don’t work out,” she describes. “There are those who are slow to pay you, small clients who ask you not to charge them too much… it is a very recurring theme when we talk to each other. Either we live with someone who carries the heavy weight of the family economy, or we have had a job and lived off of savings, or many have to leave it. It’s a shame.”

Olesia works at the A. del Burgo agency in the center of Madrid and confirms that the self-employed workers she works for tell her that they are “very upset” by the announcement of a rise that would affect 100% of the sector. “People are very stretched thin, they have to face many expenses and their income is no longer sufficient. There are people who give up because They say ‘I’m not going to put out of my pocket just to continue’. And they consider closing, retiring early, looking for employed work or being unemployed altogether,” he says.

The owner of the custom baking company ‘Lagalletareal’, Miriam (59 years old), has rented a premises on General Lacy Street in Madrid. While watching the oven, ensure that She feels “fed up” with all the expenses continuing to rise. “I’ve been self-employed for nine years and now I’m really thinking about what to do. This is crushing us. It’s not just the increase in the fee, it’s that clients don’t want to pay more and this only makes people appear who work at home, without having to pay local, self-employed, or an agency. This way they can sell cheaper.”

Specifically, Miriam is thinking about looking for a job as a salaried employee, whether “in a bakery, in a pastry shop or whatever comes up.”and believes that the Government should support small self-employed workers and not apply the increase it is planning to them, no matter how small the amount. “We are very fed up, there are months when I don’t arrive. I used to share the premises with some girls who made sweets for companies, but they have had to close,” he says.

Miguel has his hair salon near the custom bakery, which opened 13 years ago in this location. Miguel raises his shoulders when questioned about the effect the fee increase will have on his business, showing resignation. “It seems bad to me, but worse is that the previous Government raised our fee twice, 50 euros a month in total, and from 8% to 21% the VAT on hairdressers,” he responds. “For 11 euros a month I’m not going to close and if someone has to do it, it’s because that wasn’t a business,” he considers.

Mayte, who opened her own hair salon two and a half years ago in the Madrid district of Arganzuela, says along the same lines: “I jumped into the pool because if you think about it, you won’t do it.”. I haven’t felt helped at all, you have to pay for everything. “I don’t like the increase they propose, but it would be good if our taxes were at least noticeable in good healthcare and good education.”