In many films we can get the idea that there are countries where there is less purchasing power than in others. This is absolutely true, of course. But, as with many other film myths, this is not always the case. Or at least not all countries that we globally consider to be so poor or so rich are. And, even so, perhaps in terms of taxes and duties this does not correlate with what we can see in some Hollywood films. Let’s look at some of these examples below.

If you had to say where taxes are paid more, in Spain or in Japan, what would you say? You would probably think Japan, as it is a country known for its wealth and the high purchasing power of its population, as well as the strength of the Yen (JPY) in international trade.

Well, against all odds, as we will see below, Spaniards pay much more tax in proportion to the Japanese.

The truth is that the tax effort is what we must finally take into account, since it is the instrument that we can use to know what the citizen’s capacity to pay these taxes is.

As a point to bear in mind, the Japanese, earning more money on average than Spaniards, have a lower tax rate, not only in the higher personal income tax brackets, but also in the lower brackets for people earning less income. All this, together with other economic policies in Japan, means that its citizens have more money in their pockets to spend. So much so, that many industries where traditionally the extra money we can afford to use for leisure is going, are growing at a fast pace in the country. This is the case of online gambling, where spending on online gambling, especially bookmaking, has grown in Japan by 18% in 2022 compared to the previous year 2021 (source).

If, in the event of a win, the taxes you will pay on winnings are small, the incentive to bet some money on sports betting to enjoy more excitement in the matches is much greater.

However, in countries like Spain this has fallen in recent times, given that the government and especially the Treasury (known as Hacienda) are taking more money from the taxpayer precisely in periods where there are more difficulties, causing spending on leisure to decrease.

Those big meals enjoying paella as we see in the movies, is something that will be less and less seen because Spaniards have less money in their pockets and inflation is growing at much higher rates than their salaries, while taxes remain the same.

Perhaps one of Spain’s biggest problems is that the law is not as tough as we see in some famous films based in the United States, where an offence against the Treasury would get you long prison sentences. By not having a law that punishes offenders as much, we see how all citizens are punished.

And that is not a movie, it is the stark reality that is being experienced today. So, the next time a Japanese film talks about the taxes they pay, think that there are countries that are much worse off in this respect.