Spain’s treatment of its self-employed is beyond a farce.
The autonomo system, supposedly designed to support freelancers, entrepreneurs and small business owners, does the exact opposite. It punishes them and bleeds them dry.
And now, the government wants to squeeze even more out of a group that already carries far more than its fair share.
Since going autonomo myself earlier this year, I have made far more money than my previous job paid me, but after all the expenses and taxes, I’m left with roughly the same at the end of the month.
To rub salt into the wound, this week, a proposal from Spain’s Social Security Ministry aims to raise autonomo contributions by up to €206 a month by 2026. This is completely hostile.
If passed, even those earning less than €670 a month could be forced to pay €217.37 just to stay registered. That’s nearly a third of their income gone before paying rent, bills, or putting food on the table.
And for higher earners, the maximum could climb to an eye-watering €1,208.73 by 2028. How is any of this justifiable?
Not to mention the costs of hiring accountants to file your returns and expenses (good luck trying to navigate that on your own). One company actually quoted me €300 per month – before I found a more ‘reasonable’ firm that charges €120 (although there are some who charge as little as €50).
It’s essentially a tax on ambition. A punishment for trying to be independent. And it tells anyone thinking of starting a small business in Spain ‘don’t bother.’
In most countries, self-employment is encouraged. Governments understand that entrepreneurs are vital for innovation, job creation and economic dynamism.
Spain, meanwhile, seems stuck in a bureaucratic time warp where success is viewed with suspicion and failure is met with fines.
The autonomo system already demands a flat monthly contribution regardless of income – even if you earn nothing.
And while some reforms have introduced income-based tiers, this new hike makes it clear that the government sees the self-employed not as partners in economic growth, but as a cash cow.
What’s worse is that these contributions often provide very little in return. Want sick pay, maternity cover or unemployment benefits as an autonomo? Good luck.
You’re still treated as second-class, expected to pay like a full-time employee but given half the protections.
Coming out of a pandemic where thousands of small businesses collapsed and freelancers scrambled to survive, you might expect the government to support recovery with tax relief, reduced red tape or meaningful reform. Instead, it’s decided to crank up the pressure.
Many autonomos are still rebuilding. Others are just starting out, trying to turn side gigs into stable income. For these people, a hike of €50, €100, or even €200 a month could be the final straw.
And for what? To hit some arbitrary fiscal target? To plaster over the cracks in an inefficient public system?
It’s short-sighted. It’s cowardly. And it reeks of a government totally out of touch with the realities of working life.
What Spain needs is a radical overhaul of the autonomo system that aligns contributions with actual income, not fictional projections or unrealistic brackets.
The system should lower the barrier to entry, encourage entrepreneurship and reward effort instead of penalising it.
That means zero contributions for people earning under a liveable threshold, proportional payments based strictly on real monthly earnings and streamlined bureaucracy, not Kafkaesque paperwork.
Until real change occurs, the message being sent is that if you want to build something in Spain, the government won’t give you a helping hand, only a bill, and they should be ashamed for that.
The costs for autonomos is a little crazy. Having been one is was a bureaucratic nightmare. Thank God for a good gestor! But what we forget is that for all those fees you great free healthcare and a pension. There’s also another endemic problem in Spain. The grey economy. Where I live near Cadiz cheating the government is a national sport. The result is the government is always on the short end when it comes to tax collection. We, the good guys, pay for the tax cheaters in high fees and taxes. They need to start some real enforcement to kill the under the table transactions. A few high profile cases and jail terms……..