Is Spain expensive to live in? What kind of gvt do they have?

Question

How are taxes? What are the most pressing issues economically and politically in Spain?

Answer 1

Spain isnt expensive compared to other Euro countries, but to our standards its expensive. The taxes are expensive, but they have socialized medicine so it could even out for you. gas is super expensive, real estate is expensive and they tend to live in smaller spaces than we do. cars are smaller or they ride bicycles.  

Main article: Politics of Spain

Spain is a constitutional monarchy, with a hereditary monarch and a bicameral parliament, the Cortes Generales. The executive branch consists of a Council of Ministers presided over by the President of Government (comparable to a prime minister), proposed by the monarch and elected by the National Assembly following legislative elections.

The legislative branch is made up of the Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados) with 350 members, elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation to serve four-year terms, and a Senate (Senado) with 259 seats of which 208 are directly elected by popular vote and the other 51 appointed by the regional legislatures to also serve four-year terms.

Chief of State

King Juan Carlos I, since November 22, 1975

Head of Government

President of the Government: José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, elected 14 March 2004.

First Vice President and Minister of Presidency: María Teresa Fernández de la Vega.

Second Vice President and Minister of Economy and Finance: Pedro Solbes.

Cabinet

Council of Ministers (Spanish Consejo de Ministros) designated by the president.



José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain.The Spanish nation is organizationally composed in the form of called Estado de las Autonomías ("State of Autonomies"); it is one of the most decentralized countries in Europe, along with Switzerland, Germany and Belgium;[45][46][47][48] for example, all Autonomous Communities have their own elected parliaments, governments, public administrations, budgets and resources, therefore, health and education systems among others are managed regionally, besides, the Basque Country and Navarre also manage their own public finances based on foral provisions. In Catalonia and the Basque Country, a full fledged autonomous police corps replaces some of the State police functions (see Mossos d'Esquadra and Ertzaintza).

current affairs -

On January 1, 2002, Spain terminated its historic peseta currency and replaced it with the euro, which has become its national currency shared with 15 other countries from the Eurozone. This culminated the first phase of a period of economic growth,[38] which has kept the Spanish economy growing well over the EU average, but concerns are growing that the extraordinary property boom and high foreign trade deficits of recent years may bring this to an end.[39]

On March 11, 2004, a series of bombs exploded in commuter trains in Madrid, Spain. The bombings were claimed by al Qaeda[40], whereas after a five months trial in 2007 it was concluded that the bombings were perpetrated by a local Islamist militant group inspired by al-Qaeda, but without direct links to that organisation[41]. The bombings killed 191 people and wounded more than 1800, and it has been claimed that the intention of the perpetrators was to influence the outcome of the Spanish general election, held three days later on March 14.[42] Although initial suspicions of responsibility for the bombings focused on the Basque group ETA, evidence soon emerged indicating possible Islamist involvement. Because of the proximity of the election, the issue of responsibility quickly became a source of political controversy, with the main competing parties PP and PSOE crossing accusations over the handling of the aftermath.[43] A couple of days later, at the March 14 elections, PSOE, led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, obtained a relative majority, enough to form the new cabinet with Rodríguez Zapatero as the new Presidente del Gobierno or prime minister of Spain, thus succeeding the former PP administration.[44]

economics

According to the World Bank, Spain's economy is the ninth largest worldwide and the fifth largest in Europe. As of 2007, absolute GDP was valued at $1.362 trillion according to the CIA Factbook, (see List of countries by GDP (nominal)). The per capita PPP is estimated at $33,700 (2007), ahead of G7 countries like Italy and placing Spain at a similar per capita basis as France or Japan (both with an 2007 estimated at $33,800). The Spanish economy grew 3.8% in 2007 outpacing all G7 members and all the big EU economies for the 3rd consecutive year.

The centre-right government of former prime minister José María Aznar worked successfully to gain admission to the group of countries launching the euro in 1999. Unemployment stood at 7.6% in October 2006, a rate that compares favorably to many other European countries, and which is a marked improvement over rates that exceeded 20% in the early 1990s. Perennial weak points of Spain's economy include high inflation,[53] a large underground economy,[54] and an education system which OECD reports place among the poorest for developed countries, together with the United States and UK.[55] Nevertheless, it is expected that the Spanish economy will continue growing above the EU average based on the strengthening of industry, the growth of the global economy and increasing trade with Latin America and Asia.

The Spanish economy is credited for having avoided the virtual zero growth rate of some of its largest partners in the EU.[56] In fact, the country's economy has created more than half of all the new jobs in the European Union over the five years ending 2005.[57] The Spanish economy has thus been regarded lately as one of the most dynamic within the EU, attracting significant amounts of foreign investment.[58] During the last four decades the Spanish tourism industry has grown to become the second biggest in the world,[59] worth approximately 40 billion Euros (approx. 5% of GDP) in 2006[60] More recently, the Spanish economy has benefited greatly from the global real estate boom, with construction representing 16% of GDP and 12% of employment.[59] According to calculations by the German newspaper Die Welt, Spain is on pace to overtake countries like Germany in per capita income by 2011.[61] However, the downside of the real estate boom has been a corresponding rise in the levels of personal debt; as prospective homeowners struggle to meet asking prices, the average level of household debt has tripled in less than a decade. Among lower income groups, the median ratio of indebtedness to income was 125% in 2005.[62]