200€ tax on justice.

[Pelinor]

Now I'm not sure if I have understood this correctly so if anyone knows better I apologise.
There was a topic of conversation yesterday about the 200€ justice tax. It would seem the the Spanish government has recently passed a law that states that any one who wants to go to court over a perceived injustice has to pay a 200€ tax before the court will hear the case. As far a I know this goes for civil proceeding and criminal.

One of my sister in laws said she had to pay this tax only the other week as she is pursuing the health service over a civil matter. So there must be some truth in it. The thing is it's non returnable, so even if you win the case, say a 150€ motoring fine you still loose the 200€! Apparently there has been uproar about it mostly coming from the judiciary.

[Janet]

Yes, there's been uproar over it for a while. There was THIS article, for example, in El Mundo back in October, reporting on the €200 tax to appeal a €100 Trafico fine. The  Consejo General de la Abogacía Española is calling justice minister Alberto Ruiz Gallardón the worst minister Spain's ever had. He's the genius behind the new abortion laws too ...

As far as I can understand it, too, it's not just a €200 tax ... it's graded. THIS, about a case with an almost €4,000 "justice tax", suggests the tax is proportional to the value of the case, with set minima ...

THIS is one of the latest pieces on the subject, from this month, saying the new law is now in place, despite opposition from absolutely all quarters.

[Pelinor]

Having thought about it, this can only be a cynical attempt by the government to stop people using up court time. The woefully archaic Spanish justice system has been buckling under the strain of thousands of cases back logged for years. In the same conversation someone said they had seen on TV a man convicted of robbery. He had to wait ten years for his sentence which, when given, was two years prison. It was on the TV because he had moved on, he had a wife child and a job. More importantly he had not been in trouble since. But two years he got.

[Janet]

Yes, stop people using the system, and get extra money from those who do.

This is in fact a big story, so I've posted on it HERE ...

It’s something that hopefully few, if any, of us will ever need to encounter, but it’s something we need to be aware of, I think. The Spanish Government has introduced a “justice tax”, additional to existing legal costs, and to be paid in advance by anyone taking legal action. The charge has existed in some form previously, but was only levied on businesses with a set turnover. It will now, however, be something all of us will have to pay. The measure, introduced by Justice minister Alberto Ruíz-Gallardón, is highly controversial and has been opposed by virtually the whole of the legal profession, including judges, as well as citizen groups and opposition parties, but was passed into law on 17 December.

The charge is complicated because it is not a fixed fee. The press has been reporting calculated examples such as a €200 fee to challenge a €100 traffic fine, €1,280 for a standard divorce, or €3,800 for someone reclaiming €100,000 from a bank. More relevant, perhaps, to foreign property owners, is the example of a €2,100 community charge debt, where the fee to reclaim it would be just short of half, at €921. Generally, however, it appears that the costs will be between €100 and €1,200 for some kinds of cases, with others attracting a variable fee of 0.5% of the value of the case itself.

Some cases will be exempt, namely those involving criminal procedures, at least at the first legal level, those relating to fundamental rights, and those affecting children. Those who can prove (no doubt to onerous requirements) that they cannot afford the fee will also be exempt, as more controversially, will be public and governmental administrations. Justice  comes at an even higher price now, it seems.

[Prof]

The measure, introduced by Justice minister Alberto Ruíz-Gallardón

Oh yes, he's the bloke that says nothing can be done about the draconian, anachronistic eviction laws ..... just can't touch them, sorry

[Janet]

yep he's the ... um, person ..... 

can change the abortion laws too, it seems ..... just not anything that undermines the banks ... or the wealthy, or powerful .....

[Pelinor]

Oh yes, he's the bloke that says nothing can be done about the draconian, anachronistic eviction laws ..... just can't touch them, sorry

Bet he goes to church every Sunday as well!! As I said on Christmas day 'Franco is alive and still in control' Which is quite brave for me, because normally I would have caused a riot. We have anti and pro camps in the family! This time however all I received were nodding heads in agreement and you have to believe me that such agreement about political matters in the Spanish side of my family is very very rare! Suffice to say I was stunned.