Spanish tax office sells bras for extra cash
Fancy getting your hands on an oil painting, several tennis club memberships, or even a box of 50 bras? All of these items and many more are being auctioned off by Spain's cash-strapped tax office.
Spain's economic crisis has been hard on the country's tax office.
While Spanish tax rates have shot up and are now among the highest in Europe, an unemployment rate of 26 percent and inefficient tax collection means the country is struggling to fill its public coffers.
But Spain's tax office has found a hugely popular way to raise some much needed cash: online auctions.
To date some 869,000 people have signed up with the agency in the hope of snapping up a bargain in 2014, Spain's El Mundo newspaper reported on Thursday.
The variety of products on offer also goes far beyond the usual range of seized cars, boats and motorcycles. Up for grabs is everything from bottles of whisky to computer printers and a pair of diamond earrings for €950 ($1,270).
Among the items being sold off by the customs office in the southern city of Jaén there is even a set of 50 bras "for señoras (ladies)".
The undergarments are part of a lot valued at €300 which also includes 34 pairs of sunglasses, 35 Spiderman pencil cases and 27 pairs of children's trainers.
But the main course of the auctions, according to El Mundo, is the industrial real estate on offer.
The most expensive of these is a concrete and cement factory valued at a cool €7.1 million in Spain's southern Huelva province.
If you're interested in taking part in the tax office's auctions click here (in Spanish).
Don't miss stories about Spain, join us on Facebook and Twitter.
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Spain's economic crisis has been hard on the country's tax office.
While Spanish tax rates have shot up and are now among the highest in Europe, an unemployment rate of 26 percent and inefficient tax collection means the country is struggling to fill its public coffers.
But Spain's tax office has found a hugely popular way to raise some much needed cash: online auctions.
To date some 869,000 people have signed up with the agency in the hope of snapping up a bargain in 2014, Spain's El Mundo newspaper reported on Thursday.
The variety of products on offer also goes far beyond the usual range of seized cars, boats and motorcycles. Up for grabs is everything from bottles of whisky to computer printers and a pair of diamond earrings for €950 ($1,270).
Among the items being sold off by the customs office in the southern city of Jaén there is even a set of 50 bras "for señoras (ladies)".
The undergarments are part of a lot valued at €300 which also includes 34 pairs of sunglasses, 35 Spiderman pencil cases and 27 pairs of children's trainers.
But the main course of the auctions, according to El Mundo, is the industrial real estate on offer.
The most expensive of these is a concrete and cement factory valued at a cool €7.1 million in Spain's southern Huelva province.
If you're interested in taking part in the tax office's auctions click here (in Spanish).
Don't miss stories about Spain, join us on Facebook and Twitter.
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