Soccer Fan Blog

The acquaintance like “law Beckham“ was approved in the year 2004 and it consists, principally, of the fact that the foreign citizens only have to pay a valuation of 24 % of IRPF. The intention of the above mentioned law is to attract qualified foreign professionals (scientists, investigators, etc) and the only established conditions are that they have not had fiscal residence in Spain in the last ten years and that they are employed at a Spanish company.

Today the Nationalistic Block Galego and Initiative per Catalunya Verds-Izquierda has announced that they will support the Spanish socialist party to modify the law so that, from 2010, the foreigners with a salary superior to 600.000 euros have to pay 45 % of IRPF, which is the general type for the rest of Spanish who overcome the above mentioned quantity. The measurement is focused that some professions with high salaries, as it is the case of the soccer players and other sportsmen, do not benefit from a law that is not focused to favor them, but to seduce to cerebritos foreigners.
The measurement will be applied from January 1, 2010 and will not have retroactive character, with which it will only affect for the contracts signed from this moment. Before this news, the LFP (League of Professional Soccer) has put the scream in the sky. His president, José Luis Astiazarán, has given a press conference in which it has done a few declarations at the level that has us used:

To the Spanish soccer a modification of the special diet of impatriados will suppose an invoice of more than hundred million euros, what in case of being adopted it will be necessary to take the way of facing this decision, going so far as even to have to stop the competition.

Then it continued with his habitual demagogic speech:

The elimination of the special diet of impatriados like attraction of the talent will suppose an irreparable damage for the Spanish soccer. The Spanish league will lose potency and will stop being the best of the world to the detriment of others.

What happens is that the increase of the valuation of IRPF the clubs will have to assume, as as soon as there are the companies that hire foreign workpeople. Mister Astiazarán does not like because now the Spanish teams already will not have the advantage which they enjoyed as regards other countries. I will set like example to those that possess the strongest leagues: in Italy the valuation is 43 % and in England ten points have been raised recently, coming up to 50 %.

For it, till now, the Spanish clubs needed less money to equal the salaries of other countries, because the contracts are negotiated on the clear salary and the soccer players feign ignorance of the cost to major. Or what is the same: with less expense they can offer more salary. A Portuguese player, for example, who plays in England and receives 10 million euros supposes to his club an investment for 20 million euros. If a Spanish team records it, to equal the salary it should only spend approximately 15 millions. Ésto is something about what the teams of other leagues were complaining, but skylight, I do not know his opinion about our tax system if it will matter very much for anybody.

To the clubs he has not liked the news. Normal: nobody likes to lose privileges, although they are unjust. But the president of the LFP does not worry about the level of the Spanish soccer, and neither it imported for him how it left the Real Society. It has mounted quite this pantomime in which the luxury has been allowed of up to threatening with strike (would be necessary to see who would support it until the end, for much that say) with a populist intention, trying conchabarse with the leaders of the powerful teams, that they are those who more have foreign soccer players with millionaire salaries. He knows that a candidacy is cooked to the AFE (Association of Spanish Soccer players), headed by rubiales (ex-of the Levant), which can bring to him problems to support the state of his caliphate. Between other things because the LFP owes a fortune to him to the AFE that he does not pay because there presides at it a guy called Gerardo González Movilla, that also receives a salary of the LFP, and that, from his figure of trade union representative, has betrayed repeatedly the confidence of the Spanish players. But this is another topic and about him I will speak soon.

Anyway: Astiazarán has seen the opportunity to extract proper benefit doing the numerito of safe-conduct of the Spanish soccer, when in fact what he wants is to continue to the silly soup, following the lead of his main Hamlet. Because it does not matter to this gentleman the soccer players, the clubs, the soccer in general … what worries him is to lose the charge that it has and is ready to disgrace the times that it is necessary to have to please those who support it in him it to keep on using of marionette. That a foreign person who receives more than 600.000 euros (a mileurista would be late more than thirty years in gaining the above mentioned quantity) pays almost half of IRPF that Spanish is an injustice. He can already say mass who should be.

Photo | The Sports World