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TAXEDU

SPAIN - The Regional Office in Valencia of the Spanish Tax Agency provides Civic-Tax Education at the ESIC Business School

SPAIN - The Regional Office in Valencia of the Spanish Tax Agency provides Civic-Tax Education at the ESIC Business School

Marta Peris Duo

The Spanish Tax Agency, within the framework of its collaboration with Spanish Universities, regularly gives lectures with the aim of transmitting to students the values of fiscal responsibility and informing them about the possibilities of Public Employment in the STA.

As part of this collaboration, on 3rd May, the Regional Office of Valencia gave a talk on the Spanish Tax Agency's Civic Tax Education Program to the students in the 1st year of International Business at the ESIC Business School -Campus Valencia, which was very well received by both students and professors.

Article 1.1 of the Spanish Constitution proclaims that "Spain is constituted as a social and democratic State governed by the rule of law". In this conception of the social state, which takes care of its citizens, the students were invited to reflect on the essential nature of the contribution to public spending.

To further explore this idea, the students were explained the content of Article 31 of the Spanish Constitution, which establishes that "Public spending shall be based on an equitable allocation of public resources...". This principle of equity and justice in public spending implies the guarantee of the satisfaction of public needs, which the public services of the State must provide for as a guarantee of the Welfare State.

On the other hand, the same Article 31 of the Spanish Constitution includes the principle of generality, whereby "Everyone shall contribute to the support of public expenditure in accordance with their economic capacity through a fair tax system inspired by the principles of equality and progressiveness which in no case will have confiscatory scope".

Students learn how they themselves contribute, according to their economic capacity and through the payment of different taxes, to obtaining public revenues, and what kind of society would exist if they did not pay taxes, in order to improve tax awareness to encourage voluntary compliance with tax obligations.

During the session, the functions of the Spanish Tax Agency were explained in order to fulfill its mission of applying the state tax and customs system, fighting fraud and assisting taxpayers, as well as the Codes of Good Tax Practices (cooperative compliance).

They were shown the TAXEDU Portal within the framework of the European Union, where they had access to contents that were interesting and enjoyable for both students and teachers, following the learning innovations through gamification recommended by the OECD in the field of civic-tax education.  

The students also showed special interest in virtual operations and international trade, as well as in public employment opportunities to work at the Spanish Tax Agency.

The session was very participative and with great interaction from the students.