Share
Commentary

Months After Slamming Trump, Pop Star Facing Huge Financial Trouble

Share

Right after President Trump’s inauguration, pop star (if the year was 2005 or so) Shakira penned an essay for Time Magazine slamming Trump for his immigration policies.

As it turns out, Shakira — full name Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll — isn’t opposed to all of President Trump’s measures. For instance, it turns out she’s a big supporter of tax cuts.

In fact, the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer might go even further than the Trump administration and the GOP Congress did. All the way down to, say, zero. Which currently has the Colombian songstress en agua caliente with Spanish officials.

According to The Associated Press, Shakira may be facing tax evasion charges for failing to pay taxes on income earned in the three years before she “officially” moved to the city of Barcelona, Spanish officials announced on Tuesday.

“Shakira switched residences in 2015 from the Bahamas to Barcelona, where she lives with her partner, Barca soccer player Gerard Piqué, and the couple’s two sons,” the story stated.

Trending:
Hillary Clinton Jumps Into Trump 'Bloodbath' Frenzy with a Question, Doesn't Want to Hear the Answers

“Spanish tax authorities suspect the Colombian singer already lived in the northeast city between 2012 and 2014, when she allegedly failed to pay income taxes in Spain.

“Prosecutor Jose Miguel Company said the tax authorities referred the probe to the Barcelona prosecutor’s office in December. He said a decision on whether to press charges or not is expected by mid-June.”

Apparently, playing fast and loose with the law isn’t something that Shakira has too much of an issue with, at least judging by her polemical writing (such as it is).

In her February 2017 essay for Time magazine, Shakira — clearly a noted political scientist and geopolitical conflict expert — was given space to rant about how increased scrutiny for those traveling or emigrating to the United States from nations with known terror issues or enforcing immigration laws on those who have entered America illegally is racist ‘n stuff.

Do you think Shakira could be guilty of tax fraud?

“We have to be vigilant about letting bigotry and hatred creep into the mainstream or be rationalized under the guise of ‘protecting our people,’” Prof. Shakira wrote.

“Muslims are our people. They are human beings with children, needs and dreams like the rest of us. Not all Muslims are terrorists, and by the way, not all terrorists are Muslims,” she wrote.

“Latinos are our people. They don’t come to ‘steal jobs’ — they come seeking an opportunity to build a better life for themselves and for their children, which is what the U.S. has always prided itself on representing: opportunities.”

While those are lovely sentiments, they’re also pitched at a fourth-grade level of understanding of what illegal immigration and/or terrorism entail. It’s also worth pointing out that most of the externalities of illegal immigration and terrorism have to be financed, one way or another, through government money at some level.

These funds are collected through a number of methods, but one of the most universally applied is the income tax — a levy on what people earn. In the United States, illegal immigration cost taxpayers $135 billion a year, according to a 2017 report. That number is probably lower in Spain, but also likely growing thanks to the migrant crisis that’s swept the European continent, including Spain.

Related:
Hillary Clinton Jumps Into Trump 'Bloodbath' Frenzy with a Question, Doesn't Want to Hear the Answers

While Shakira’s perfectly happy lecturing us all on just what we ought to do as a global polity, she’s apparently not prepared to actually join the people of Spain in paying for the costs of the results of her moral instruction.

Ah, but rules — and ethical consistency — are for the little people, aren’t they?

Please like and share on Facebook and Twitter if you think that, while Shakira’s hips may not lie, her tax returns might.

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →



We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
, , ,
Share
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




Conversation