In a bold statement that can only be compared to the raw honesty of her song Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53, Colombian superstar Shakira finally broke her silence on her painful battle with Spain's tax authorities.
In a letter published in Spanish newspaper 'El Mundo,' the singer songwriter passionately defended herself against allegations of tax fraud and explained why she decided to settle the case. She also compared Spain's Tax Agency (Hacienda) to the infamous Inquisition, known for its ruthless pursuit of perceived heretics during medieval times.
Shakira also accused the Spanish government of structural machismo and revealed that she ended up making no money during her years living in Barcelona with then-partner Gerard Piqué, the father of her children Milan and Sasha.
Shakira, who paid over $8 million to settle accusations that she failed to pay around $16 million in taxes between 2012 and 2014, took the opportunity to address what she describes as a decade-long personal and financial struggle. "The most frustrating part," she wrote, "was realizing that a State institution seemed more interested in publicly burning me at the stake than in listening to my side of the story."
She explained that her decision to finally speak out was primarily motivated by her desire to protect her children and clear her name. "I need them to know that I made the decisions I made to protect them, to be by their side and continue with my life. Not out of cowardice or guilt," Shakira stated in her letter.
Shakira also accused the Spanish Tax Agency of fabricating a narrative that conflates her desire to build a relationship with Piqué, who was then based in Spain, with an intention to establish permanent residency in the country. "One was the desire to settle in a country, and the other, very different, was the desire for a relationship to flourish in that country. They conflated the two to turn me into a tax resident since 2011, and create obligations that didn't exist," she explained.
Shakira's criticism of the Spanish Tax Agency doesn't stop there. She suggests that her treatment by the agency reflects a broader, underlying sexism within the institution. "If the singer had been an American man who fell in love with a Spanish woman and visited her regularly, I find it hard to believe that the Tax Agency would have considered he intended to establish roots," she argued.
"There is a structural machismo that assumes a woman can only follow a man, even when it is not in her best interest. A machismo that persists in sectors of the state bureaucracy in a society that — fortunately — now thinks very differently," Shakira added.
The artist's letter also explains why she reached a deal with Spanish prosecutors to settle the case, agreeing to pay the hefty fine to avoid what could have been a prolonged court battle that might have resulted in up to eight years of jail time.
Despite the settlement, Shakira maintains her innocence, stating, "I have always strived to do what's right and set a positive example for others." She further criticized the tax authorities for pursuing her case aggressively, just as they have with other high-profile individuals, in what she sees as an attempt to make examples out of celebrities.
Shakira also addressed the emotional toll the case has taken on her, describing the years-long battle as a "decade financially lost." She recounted how her finances were scrutinized by not only the Spanish authorities but also by institutions like the IRS and the White House, all of which found no wrongdoing. "In all that time, they never found even the slightest sign of illegality," she wrote, expressing her frustration with the ordeal and the perceived unfair treatment by Spain's tax authorities(
In closing her letter, Shakira reflected on her need to control her narrative, drawing inspiration from her late friend, Colombian Literature Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez. She noted that while Márquez believed in "living to tell," she sees herself "telling it to live" to reclaim her story and move forward with her life. "There is more truth about me than in everything that was published in 2023," she concluded, signaling her intent to put the controversy behind her and focus on her career and family.
Her next move is her sixth world tour, "Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran", which starts on November 2 in Palm Desert, California.
Shakira's letter about her tax troubles translated to English:
In 2023, I lived surrounded by cameras eagerly waiting to show the world how I would break down. No one missed a single detail: the tax trial, the media-covered divorce... it was too juicy a spectacle to pass up. But the most frustrating part was realizing that a State institution seemed more interested in publicly burning me at the stake than in listening to my side of the story. Well, I believe the time has come to provide it.
From the beginning, I knew that the contrived narrative of the Tax Agency confused and manipulated two completely different intentions: one was the desire to settle in a country, and the other, very different, was the desire for a relationship that was developing in that country to prosper. They swapped one for the other to turn me into a tax resident since 2011 and create obligations that did not exist. Now I understand, because I lived it firsthand, that an institution created to serve the citizens should not use all its power and resources to arbitrarily criminalize those it sees fit, but everyone knows that romance sells well.
In 2011, I wanted my relationship with Gerard Piqué, who at that time was tied to Spain for work reasons, to thrive, but traveling to Spain caused me many complications because it forced me to be far from my work centers. Whenever I returned, it was to make that relationship prosper, not because of a "desire for permanence." An underlying prejudice in this strategy is also sexist. If the singer had been an American man who fell in love with a Spanish woman and regularly visited her, I find it hard to believe that the Tax Agency would have considered he had an intention to settle. There is a structural machismo that assumes a woman can only follow a man, even when it is not in her best interest. A machismo that persists in sectors of the state bureaucracy in a society that — fortunately — now thinks very differently. Some technicians from the Spanish Tax Agency presented a childish and moralistic narrative in which I was a singer who avoided fulfilling her tax obligations, and they were the representatives of justice and decency. The reality was very different: I always fulfilled my obligations. My finances were investigated by institutions as little suspect as the White House or the IRS and approved by other European Union countries, and all that time, they never found the slightest sign of illegality, while a director general of inspection of the Spanish Tax Agency allowed himself to criminalize me on a television program even before the trial was held. Can we trust an institution to respect our presumption of innocence when it condemns us publicly before the verdict?
But the Tax Agency is not about punishing those who do not comply but about showing hunting trophies to rebuild a tarnished credibility. And how do they achieve that? By intimidating people, threatening them with jail, compromising our children's peace of mind, and pressuring us to break. They tried to make the public believe that I was not paying my taxes, when the truth is that I paid much more than I should have. When it was appropriate to do so, I declared myself a Spanish tax resident, and if you add up all the amounts of what I paid voluntarily and the unjustified fines, you will see that the Spanish State kept a sum greater than all my earnings for those years. It may seem incomprehensible, but for me, the Spanish decade was a financially lost decade, and not because I worked little, as everyone knows. I gave 120 concerts in 90 different cities. How can someone who gives 120 concerts lose money? It sounds strange, I know, but today my assets consist of what I earned before arriving in Spain and what I earned after leaving it. Everything I earned in those years was taken by the Spanish State.
When in 2015, I decided to live in Spain under the expatriate regime, the Tax Agency admitted that for the previous 10 years, I had not been a resident, only to immediately afterward try to charge me for those years. What seemed like a polite way to formalize my situation became a trap. In the case of 2011, the strategy is particularly scandalous because I only spent 73 days in Spain, when the minimum established by law to be a tax resident is 183 days. A person who spends their time touring the world cannot have an intention to reside fiscally in a place just because they live there with the person with whom they are in a relationship at the time. It would be the same as thinking that a tourist passing through Ibiza on vacation must become a tax resident just for having a local romance.
Some may wonder why I bother to make these statements now. The first reason is my children. We have had to live in an era marked by a tone of state arrogance, but overwhelming is not the same as giving reasons. Intimidating people is not the same as convincing them. If they want us to believe in institutions, they should convince us that the institutions believe in us. Things cannot be fixed by burning a public figure at the stake every year, as if it were an Inquisition process to regain lost prestige.
To my children, I want to leave the legacy of a woman who calmly presented her reasons in her own time when she deemed it necessary, not when she was forced to. I need them to know that I made the decisions I made to protect them, to be by their side, and to continue with my life. Not out of cowardice or guilt. I want them to understand that my love for Spain and my dear Spanish friends and family still endures, but not everything is the same. Sometimes the commitment to the truth is more important than one's comfort. If at that time, I decided to settle for the sake of my children, this time, I choose to speak because my conscience demands it.
The second reason is the need to write my own story. My dear friend Gabriel García Márquez, whom I miss so much, titled his memoirs "Living to Tell the Tale." Literature was so important to him that he thought he lived to be able to tell. Well, in a similar way, I "tell it to live," to be able to recover my life so that no one writes my story for me. Just like with my songs, I sing to live in peace again, to turn the page.
Sometimes a song can win many awards and fame, but those are not necessarily the most beloved songs. The most beloved are those that help us build ourselves up, those we secretly turn to when we want to remember who we are, and also those we use to let others know who we are. Well, in this little article, there is more truth about me than in everything published in 2023. It may not amuse the officials of the Tax Agency who judged me to read it, but frankly, I care very little. I did not write it for them.
