Politicians quell citizen action to raise millions for Spanish science

A petition to allow Spanish citizens to direct 0.7 per cent of their income tax to funding R&D has snowballed to almost 260,000 signatories—but there is little support from politicians on all sides.

Via a tick box on a form, Spanish taxpayers already allocate 0.7 per cent of their income tax to the church or social organisations. According to the administrative branch of Spain’s Catholic church, the organisation earned some €249 million through this route in 2011.