The social media campaign Barcelona launched to support Lionel Messi has been criticized by fans and experts since last Saturday. Today, the Spanish tax authorities asked Los Blaugranas to stop this campaign, as it is an "irresponsible act"
Spanish tax attorney Carlos Cruzado hinted that such a campaign clearly damages the intention of the Soanish revenue service, since the team is unadvertedly supporting a person that did not comply with his duties as a citizen.
"The fact that an entity such as Barcelona, with so much projection around the world, is behind this campaign is not only unfortunate, but it also hits back at the use of tax education, something so necessary in Spain right now," Cruzado stated.
Messi was sentenced to 21 months in prison after being found guilty of three charges of tax evasion, but he will not be serving any jailtime due to the nature of the crime.
"The best thing the club and the player could have done was to accept their penalty and turn the page. But this sort of campaign only damages our efforts to make the people aware of how importat it is for them to pay taxes. It doesn't matter if it was Messi or someone else, being a public person should be one more reason to try and avoid being charged with tax fraud," the attorney added.
The social media campaign has been harshly criticized by a number of fans and experts, who don't believe that the hashtag reflects how the Spanish working class feels about a footballer getting away with such charges.
The player is yet to make a statement about the penalty imposed by the Spanish tax authorities, as he is currently on vacation.
