Foreigners that are living in Spain or the Canary Islands will be able to influence the way the country is run when they register their vote at the up and coming general elections. Many of the mainland and Island residents are appalled at the way the current Government is running things and there is expected to be a major change. Currently a Spaniard with the maximum pension gets 32,000 Euros a year but politicians have the right to much larger lifelong pension schemes which is sometimes in the region of 74,000 Euros per annum. Further to that, these special pensions are not incompatible with other administrative wages that may be received after retirement.
A politician is the only retired worker in Spain allowed to augment their pension without losing any percentage of it. Other pensioners in the country constantly lose percentages. Many residents of Spain and the Canary Islands are getting fed up of the divide between themselves and politicians with the feeling that politicians are creating an elitist attitude between them and the Spanish people. At the moment a big talking point is that tax retention for all deputies and senators is set at only 4.5 per cent. This is just the tip of the iceberg with many locals complaining that they want a change at the helm because of current legislation making life easy for the people in power. Examples of this include; most company vehicles for politicians are 100,000 Euros worth of luxury motor, Congress last year spent 160,000 Euros on Christmas presents for one another and the latest figures showing that on average every Spaniard owes 566 Euros to their banks because of Town Hall debts.
