Catalan buys abandoned village and builds self-sufficient hippie commune in rural Spain

A Catalan buys a village and creates a nudist commune: two deaths and trouble with the tax office

Two deaths from overdose, a 12-kilo watermelon stolen by the neighbours, and a letter from the Catalan tax agency (Agencia Tributaria). That is the balance sheet of the self-sufficient commune a Catalan man has set up in an abandoned village in inland Tarragona, Spain. The hippie utopia, documented in a video that has gone viral, reads more like the chronicle of a cult than a libertarian paradise.

The project, which began with the purchase and renovation of several houses in an empty village, was meant to be a refuge for those seeking to escape capitalism and urban life. However, according to witnesses, the founder is "wrecked" due to his past as a bodybuilder and drug use. The commune, which promotes nudism and self-sufficiency, has seen two of its members die from drug use. Moreover, the project's legality is shaky: the tax agency has already contacted them.

Utopia or cult? The two faces of the return to the countryside

For some analysts, the initiative is a step in the right direction, but not enough. They argue that the return to rural life should be an "integral revolution" against the state and capital, not an individual escape. Others, however, see the commune as an example of the risks of such experiments: lack of organisation, health problems and tax disputes. The video shows a bucolic setting, but the numbers don't lie: two deaths and a tax office that shows no mercy.

The tax problem facing communes in Spain

The letter from the Catalan tax agency is a reminder that, however self-sufficient a community may be, the state always ends up knocking at the door. In Spain, communes that are not set up as associations or cooperatives face individual taxation of their members. Furthermore, buying property in abandoned villages is neither tax-exempt nor free from the obligation to keep it in good condition.

---

The question that remains is whether this kind of project can survive in the long term without descending into chaos or fiscal repression. Meanwhile, the video keeps circulating, and the watermelons keep disappearing.

Related discussions in the forum

• The EU changes the rules: from July all cars must come with a factory-fitted breathalyser · 109 replies
• My doctor tells me I have to take cholesterol pills for life because my own body produces it, wtf?? · 223 replies
• Cardio is a waste of time · 12 replies
• Eating less sugar and flour, the definitive solution to overweight/obesity? (II) · 12313 replies