Spanish minister resigns over tax fine

According to the international news surce




Spain’s culture minister
resigned on Wednesday from a week-old
government following local media reports that
he had avoided paying taxes while working as
a TV journalist 10 years ago.
Maxim Huerta, who was named to the cabinet
of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez last week,
said he had paid a fine related to his declared
income in 2006 and 2008, and was
“absolutely innocent”.
“I have paid the fine twice, at the time and
now, here,” he told a news conference in
Madrid, saying the penalty had resulted from
a change in the tax authority’s criteria.
Huerta added that he was fully up to date
with his tax payments.
Sanchez toppled his predecessor, Mariano
Rajoy, in a confidence vote over a long-
running corruption scandal.
El Confidencial newspaper had reported that
Huerta had been found to have avoided
paying tax amounting to more than 200,000
euros (176,180.51 pounds).
Spaniards have been enthusiastic so far in
their reception of Sanchez’s Socialist
government, which broke with six years of
right-wing domination and contains more
women than men in ministerial posts for the
first time in the country’s history.
His party rebounded in opinion polls after
taking power, overtaking rivals which had
poached its voters in recent years, including
market-friendly Ciudadanos and anti-austerity
Podemos.
Despite these encouraging signs, Sanchez will
have his work cut out to make any major
policy changes, as he controls less than a
quarter of the seats in parliament.

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