While the top 1% hides 10% of the world’s GDP in tax havens, governments keep chasing freelancers and small businesses as if they were to blame for the gap. A structural imbalance that exposes the moral, economic, and political bankruptcy of the current fiscal system.

Globally, around 10% of the planet’s GDP is hidden in opaque jurisdictions. Trillions of euros escape taxation, distort economies, and perpetuate inequality. Yet, tax audits remain focused on the self-employed and small companies —a paradox that exposes the extractive and clienteles nature of our economic system.

The shadow of global money

According to estimates from the Tax Justice Network, around 10 trillion dollars —one-tenth of the world’s GDP— are hidden in tax havens. Luxembourg, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, or Switzerland act as safe harbours for capital fleeing taxation, regulation, or social responsibility. Major fortunes, multinationals, and investment funds channel profits there that go untaxed where they were actually generated.

These practices are legal in many cases, but ethically indefensible. Above all, they represent a massive drain on public finances. According to the OECD, states lose more than 400 billion euros every year in tax revenue —money that could fund public services, reduce debt, or boost productive innovation.

Taxation for the usual suspects

On the other hand, workers, freelancers, and small businesses face record-high tax pressure. In Catalonia, according to Spain’s Tax Agency, people pay up to 12.5% more income tax than in Madrid. This burden falls mainly on middle and low incomes, while large fortunes optimise their taxation through international structures.

This dynamic is the essence of what 11Onze has often described as clienteles capitalism and the extractive system: a model in which political and economic power cooperate to keep wealth flowing from the bottom up, socialising losses and privatising profits. The biggest tax dodgers don’t need briefcases —they have law firms.

Clienteles capitalism: legal corruption

Most of this fraud is not the work of criminal networks, but of law firms, auditors, and lobbies exploiting tailor-made legal loopholes. This is what we call crony capitalism: an ecosystem where laws are drafted to protect private interests, and the line between public and private power becomes blurred.

The result is that, while small taxpayers are criminalised, large-scale evasion becomes just another financial service —offered with total impunity. The same states that bailout banks and corporations with public money turn a blind eye to the flows of capital escaping to Delaware or Luxembourg.

The vicious circle of inequality

The most perverse aspect of this mechanism is its multiplier effect. When the richest stop paying taxes, governments offset the loss by increasing the tax burden on consumption and middle incomes. VAT goes up, public services deteriorate, and inequality deepens.

This spiral erodes public trust and undermines the social contract. Why should ordinary citizens comply with the tax authority when the wealthiest don’t?

A system that protects itself

The implicit message is clear: not everyone plays by the same rules. Pursuing small taxpayers is profitable —statistically and politically— while fighting international tax evasion is complex and threatens powerful interests. Thus, the system defends itself, as described in the article The relevance of the extractive system: power mechanisms are designed to guarantee stability, not justice.

The solution is not merely technical but political. It requires the will to confront massive capital flows and establish an international tax framework that prevents a race to the bottom between nations. Initiatives like the G20’s 15% minimum corporate tax rate are a timid step, but far from enough. The real challenge is to make money work for society —not the other way around.

As long as 10% of the world’s GDP remains hidden, the official narrative will keep talking about a “fight against tax fraud” through audits of freelancers earning €2,000 a month. But the real fraud is structural. If we want a sustainable and fair future, we must demand transparency, sovereignty, and accountability. Taxation should not be a tool of submission, but an instrument of redistribution.

If you want to discover the best option to protect your savings, enter Preciosos 11Onze. We will help you buy at the best price the safe-haven asset par excellence: physical gold.