Shakira and her war with the tax office: There is structural patriarchy

In November 2023, Shakira Mebarak agreed with the tax authorities a fine of 7.8 million euros and admitted tax fraud of another 14.5 million euros between 2012 and 2014 and put an end to a grueling judicial and also media process. The Colombian did not go to prison. Nearly 12 months later, the artist is sincere in an exclusive letter published in El Mundo.

Shakira starts her long text accusing the IRS of seeming interested in burning her "at the stake", without listening to her arguments. In addition, she described the account of this body as "contrived" to prove that she was a tax resident since 2011 "and thus create obligations that did not exist". The Colombian insisted that whenever she traveled to Spain it was always for Gerard Pique.

The artist confessed that her flights to Barcelona were not due to a "vocation of permanence", but were understood by the romance she had with the ex-Barcelona footballer. In this sense, Shakira described the Treasury as applying a criterion in which, she wrote, "underlines a sexist prejudice", something she considers "structural" in the bureaucracy, comments El Mundo.

Shakira posa ante las cmaras.Getty

Shakira: If the singer had been a man...

And she argues as follows: "If the singer had been an American man, had fallen in love with a Spanish woman and visited her regularly, I find it hard to believe that the Tax Agency would have considered that he had a rooting intention." Shakira further added that the intention of the IRS was to present "hunting trophies" to recover its reputation.

The Colombian artist insisted on criticizing the attitude of the Treasury and even exposed that nowadays the "arrogance of the state" in these cases is common. "Things are not solved by burning one public figure a year at the stake. It is not the same to intimidate as to convince people", she reflected in her long letter.

She made a deal with the IRS for her children

Shakira wanted to make it very clear that the pact with the IRS had a very clear motive, her children. "I need them to know that I made the decisions I made to protect them, to be by their side and move on with my life. Not out of cowardice or guilt," she said. She also stressed the need to "recover" her life and "turn the page".

Shakira y Gerard Piqu, su expareja.Getty