In earlier Picket Line entries, I’ve attempted to translate sections from the latest edition of the Spanish Handbook of Economic Disobedience (see 18 September , 20 September , 21 September , and 23 September ).

Today I’ll continue:

Total tax resistance by making yourself bankrupt This action consists of stopping all payment of personal income tax, VAT , and/or all those that you can, with prior action generating a situation of irrevocable insolvency. Taking into account that not paying taxes is only a criminal offense starting at €120,000 per year, there is much margin for disobedience without the risk of criminal charges and for dropping out of the system, supporting a widespread and massive process of social self-management. Additionally, through your personal action, you can support other businesses and cooperatives that are not insolvent, generating receipts to help them balance their accounts. From tax resistance to fiscal autonomy Some of the mechanisms that we provide on this page resemble the tricks also used by people for selfish ends of dubious ethics. If these also form part of our proposals, this is because the depth of social autonomy that we propose will require a great deal of resources in order to make it happen, which can be generated in part by the ability to work and the generosity of many people; so long as the minimum necessary economic resources go along with it to make it possible. We mean by fiscal autonomy all of these paths of redirection that make sure taxation remains in projects that will really result in benefits for the people. This is to say that the part of the work that each person is responsible to contribute to the common good can be directed to new public services that really prioritize the basic needs of people in the highest scale of priorities. For this reason, in the face of the squandering of our resources on the part of the State, it is a priority and nothing less than essential to create ever more massive dynamics of civil disobedience and to redirect our resources for popular, grassroots self-organization. A difference from last year, when during the organizing of the Handbook we collected a list of the projects that were registered to receive funds from tax resistance, this year the lists are prepared in a decentralized way in the various territories, so that in this edition that you are reading, you should find an appendix with those projects from the territory where you are. If not, you can look on the web www.derechoderebelion.net where we will publish a list of projects from all of the territories. How we will organize if we are holders of unpayable mortgages In recent decades, the necessities of the real estate market and the coverage of the neoliberal propaganda apparatus have generated the false necessity to embrace (private) homeownership. This has led millions of people signing mortgage contracts that, surely, not even their heirs can assume. Meanwhile, banks, housing, construction, real estate, and vultures in general, saw their businesses flourish, but the lives of millions of families withered when the terms for making the mortgage payments were not longer sufficient. This is the harsh reality in which the weakest level in the social pyramid is steeped today, now. The question is: What can we do to stop the forceful expropriation of the legitimate right to housing? The commendable work of the Platforms of People Affected by Mortgages throughout the region has demonstrated that we can defend the right to housing in the streets and through various forms of social pressure, greatly reducing the number of people evicted from their homes. From there, and with the base of disobedience, we propose extending the lines of action that permit us to self-manage the right of housing for the long term. Strategies to impede the legal process Various Platforms of People Affected by Mortgages suggest that when a notice of unpaid mortgage arrives, demand free legal aid. Whether it is granted or not, the very process of making the claim extends the interval between the notice and the auction. If it is granted, it will be important to count on trusted lawyers who provide free help in order to ensure that the rights of the debtor are properly defended. Furthermore, if we are aware that in the short term we cannot afford to pay our mortgage, we can rent it at a low price to someone trustworthy and who can make use of it, integrating a network of cross-linked rentals. By renting, we can block the evictions from properties for at least five years. Caution: there has been a lot voiced about how only a nominal rent would be sufficient to keep the house. In light of this it would be wise, since there is the legal concept of “legally fraudulent contract” issued at the whim of a judge, which could lead to an eviction order. Given this, it is important: That the new tenants inhabit the house. That the price is credible, even though it be low in comparison to others. That the economic transactions of rent actually take place and can be demonstrated. That the direct deposit of receipts and so forth is changed. In other words, you have to prepare in the face of the law with complete thoroughness, because what you have to do is to demonstrate to the judge that a true contract is at issue. See article 14 of the Tenancies Act concerning “Transfer of leased housing.” As much as some judges, leaning in favor of the banking sector, argue that the Mortgage Law or even the mortgage deed itself limits the right to rent mortgaged homes, there are numerous rulings that demonstrate that the Tenancies Act must prevail during the first five years of the contract, since it forms part of the guarantee of the basic right of a tenant. You have to take into account also what it says in the Civil Procedure Act with concern to renting a foreclosed property: “In the mortgage process there is one event concerning possession and that is when the judge evaluates all of the details of the contract in order to adjudicate whether it must or must not be respected.”

Following this are excerpts from Article 661 of the Civil Procedure Act that I couldn’t be bothered to translate but I assume continue to back up the point that renters of a property that is seized from its owner via foreclosure are not thereby automatically evicted.

A subsequent paragraph recommends that people begin the process of renting out their soon-to-be-foreclosed homes quickly when it becomes clear that they will not be able to keep up with the payments, and that they file official paperwork about the rental right away so it goes on record before the foreclosure process gets started.