A 75% luxury tax imposed on French millionaires has already driven famous actor Gerard Depardieu out of the country. Now France is at risk of losing its football players with annual incomes up to 15 billion euros.
The luxury tax will first of all hit large companies. Whether it will apply to wealthy individuals is still unclear. So, many are scratching heads wondering if they fall under the category of large companies. Top football teams are also perplexed.
As French football supremo Noel Le Graet told Le Parisien on April 1, the government said football clubs will not be subject to the supertax.
Le Graet told Le Parisien newspaper that he had spoken to Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who had been “very clear: only big companies will be taxed”. Le Graet added, “Professional clubs are considered to be small- and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, they will not be affected by the 75% tax.”
However, just a couple of hours later an official at Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault’s office argued that “the new measure will affect all companies paying out salaries above 1 million euros”, adding that there had been no discussions or talks with the French Football Federation for several months already.
The French football league was indignant at the statement. “This new tax will cost first division teams 182 million euros. With these crazy labour costs, France will lose its best players, our clubs will see their competitiveness in Europe decline, and the government will lose its best taxpayers.”
The Paris Saint-Germain Association appears to be the most concerned with at least 12 football players making over 1 million euros a year. For instance, Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic earns 15 million euros yearly, while the annual salary of Italian head coach Carlo Ancelotti is estimated at 12 million euros.
