Spanish big guns threaten La Liga strike

antihenry

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo....html?ITO=1490

Spanish clubs have threatened to go on strike amid plans to wipe out tax laws that give La Liga a huge advantage over the Barclays Premier League.

The country's socialist government are supporting moves to end the so-called 'Beckham law', which allows high-earning foreigners to pay 24 per cent income tax instead of the 43 per cent levied on locals.

The Spanish League (LFP) have warned that their clubs will face a bill of more than £90million and could kill the competition.

The law coincided with David Beckham signing for Real Madrid from Manchester United in 2004.

It was designed to attract foreign executives to the country, but has helped Madrid and Barcelona to sign some of the best players in the world on contracts that would not be affordable to rivals across Europe.

If passed, the new law would come into effect on January 1. It would instantly add a £2million-a-year cost to Cristiano Ronaldo's contract at the Bernabeu.

The Portugal star signed an estimated £200,000 a week after-tax deal following his world record £80m summer move from Manchester United to Real Madrid.

The LFP have expressed 'great concern' and refuse to rule out 'halting the competition'.

Their president Jose Luis Astiazaran said: 'This could bring very negative consequences. It would prevent La Liga from being the best of the world and would have negative impact on other aspects, such as the amount of people in stadiums and it would make our product less attractive to television.

'We have calculated that this reform would add 100m euros to the bill for Spanish football.'

Experts have continually pointed to the Beckham law as giving La Liga a competitive advantage.

Most foreigners in Spain negotiate after-tax salaries to protect against fluctuating levels, so the clubs rather than the employees would pick up the tab.

Atletico Madrid star Sergio Aguero's camp stunned Chelsea and Manchester United in the summer by demanding a salary that, after various taxes and fees, would cost an English club about £200,000 a week.

In Spain the cost would be closer to £160,000 a week for the club - £2m a year less.

A change in the law would put Spain's tax rate above England's 40 per cent level for high earners, though a jump to 50 per cent in April is already concerning Premier League clubs, with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger and star player Andrey Arshavin particular critics.

Arshavin is believed to have negotiated a gross deal of £80,000 a week with Arsenal, with some even suggesting that the increased tax bill in England meant he was taking a pay cut from his deal at Zenit St Petersburg.

He would see his take-home pay reduced by thousands each week when the 50 per cent level is brought in.

Italy (43 per cent), Germany (45 per cent), France (40 per cent), and Holland (30 per cent) would all have levels below England, while many emerging European economies have much lower flat rates of tax.

Doogie

Interesting. I guess it was just a matter of a time before the "Beckham law" would end there, considering the economic climate these days and the fact that a socialist government is in control.

MikeUpNorth

More than likely a compromise will be reached. Some kind of staggered implementation probably.

Merman

I'd love this to happen

gambit28

They'll find a way so it doesn't apply to Real and Barca.

fishfingers15

I wonder if Barcelona will join the strike. After all, they are more than a club. Surely they should take the side of the socialists on this one.

Trigg

If I was a local I'd be pretty pissed off with me paying more tax.

Makki

"Oh no, they're going to change national law and take away our big advantage so we can't attract even more good players, let's go on strike!"

For fuck's sake. It's like English clubs going on strike if they are prevented to sign 16 year olds from Italy on professional contracts..

Makki

If you'd been a local you wouldn't have been included in the Beckham Law anyway..

fadas

Source = Daily Mail.

Spanish footballers killed Lady Di.

adexkola

Of course you would, you hate all things Iberian, you bible toting hypocrite

Merman

Interval Level

Where the fuck did this come from?

Trigg

I know, but high earning locals pay more than high earning overseas people right? Or have got this all wrong?

I meant that if I was a local I'd be wanting this to come in to make it fair.

VidaRed

Dr. Dwayne

Good stuff. It's high time the rich were put in their place and subject to the same laws and conventions as the rest of us, the cnuts.

Count Duckula

That's The Express.

Raven_Blade

Exactly they still make more money than most of us will ever see in a lifetime. The more you earn, the more you pay. Simples.

Xander45

Damn right, it's ridiculous that just because they are foreign "workers" they should pay considerably less tax.

Makki

Oh, I misinterpreted your post then.

Point taken and agreed with.

Addis

Serves them right.

MrMarcello

I think it's ridiculous that any government can tax half your pay no matter how much a person earns. That said, every employee in a country/state should fall under the same tax laws in that country/state. No breaks just because someone is a foreigner or athlete.

The numbers these players take home even with a heavy tax is still many times more than the average Joe. Arshavin would still take home 2m per annum which is an incredible living.

Nistelrooy10

Me too. Looking at it from a Machiavellian point of view, they should because it would hurt much Real more than them.


If republicans are to be believed, Obama will implement a similar system too

kouroux

he's right

championo

Ok, how about they make it level with the English clubs? I think that will be fair for Spain's economy.
Like I care

Merman

come on kou

WeasteDevil

No, it's actually a valid story.

thoward

About time.

VoetbalWizard

i don't understand how raul, david villa, etc would be happy about paying extra taxes. though i guess it doesn't really affect them since they probably negotiate their contracts 'net' in value.

i remember in SAF's autobio "managing my life", he commented how in england wages were negotiated in gross terms but on the continent it was negotiated at net terms.

kouroux

You're getting so annoying with your "anti-spanish" mindset regarding football.Your posts are useless on these matters

fishfingers15

Is La Liga the new Scottish League?

Domination by Barcelona and Real Madrid making Spain the new Scotland | Sid Lowe | Football | The Observer

Find it hard to disagree.

R_Nick

That arguement is not a new one. Bit of an odd thread to bump with it too.

Erictheking7

Pretty good article that

Chorley1974

wtf??????????

fishfingers15

Didn't want to create a new thread

Actually, the thread is still valid. The voting is done for the Beckham rule and it'll be removed soon.

jojojo

La Liga has always been a two horse race. 50 titles between them - something like 30 between the rest. And the figures they quote about how Real Madrid and Barcelona dominate the fan/TV base are real - not many Spanish fans feel left out of the title race.

That said in the past ten years it's been Madrid - 4. Barca - 3, Valencia - 2, Deportivo -1.
Compared to the PL: United - 6, Arsenal - 2, Chelsea - 2

Not exactly convincing proof that the PL is a very different beast.

Oddly enough, the worry for La Liga has to be that having Barca and Madrid strong at the same time is a problem. No one complained about Barcelona thrashing everyone last year, because it just implied that it was a very special team. Whereas when two of them are doing it, it makes the rest look like cannon fodder.

Anderson Searl

Those Valencia teams remind me of these Chelsea teams, though Chelsea seem to manage their funds reasonably well.

Myxomatosis

It's always been like that. England has been pretty much the same since Liverpool started dominating and we replaced them, it just changes every decade or two who the top two/three are, but on a year to year basis it's not much different. Same goes for Italy as well.

There's very few top leagues which aren't dominated by the same two or three teams most years.

HsJ

Good.

Edit: about the tax thing.


Re: Spain the new Scotland...hardly true.

MrK

I was actually thinking about this last night after looking at the La Liga table, it reminded me very much of Scotland. Or even back some years ago when United were basically unchallenged for a number of league wins.


Not convincing proof at all, but considering all the factors I think there are some glaring differences. While there's imbalance between clubs in both leagues, I feel the imbalance between clubs in England is more natural. United and Liverpool for example have a bigger fanbase to monetise due to their past history, which in real terms leads to an advantage of sorts, but Liverpool are proof enough that this alone isn't enough to succeed.

The dominating teams in the premier league have been United (special weapon; a better manager than everyone else), Chelsea (special weapon; an influx of cash which could be lost at any time and a good manager), and Arsenal (a good manager with a talent for spotting great players). In Spain, due to TV deals and such, it's almost written into the rules that the big two have more favourable circumstances than the rest. But it this way, once Ferguson retires it's a very real possibility that United could have a very quick fall from grace, and that will impact in the long term. Real and Barca have had a fair few bad patches each, but because of how everything's set up they always have the resources to afford that.


I watched most Barca games last season, and when they beat a team 4-0 it tended to be a case of getting an early goal or two, and then stepping off the gas a bit. United's 4-0 wins tend to be more like 60 minutes to break the deadlock, and then a few more towards the end when the opponents have been broken down. The same result, but the actual difference in competitiveness of the leagues seems clear.