Hollande tax plan may kill French football, says league president
PARIS: Frederic Thiriez, the president of the French league, has warned that the proposed new 75pc tax rate for millionaires in the country could bring about “the death of football in France.”
Thiriez has claimed that clubs in Ligue 1 would struggle desperately to compete with Europe’s other top leagues when it comes to retaining and attracting the game’s leading stars.
The LFP chief has received an offer to discuss his concerns about the law, which has been proposed by President Francois Hollande’s government, with Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici.
“Nothing has been decided yet,” he said, according to RMC. “We are talking, which is important. What is certain is that, if this tax were to be applied in the terms presented, it would be the death of football in France – let us be clear about that.
“There would be an increase in costs of 30pc in one fell swoop, and no company could withstand that. It would be even more unfair given that individual sportsmen and women in golf, tennis and Formula One, would escape it, as would artists.”
Thiriez added: “The only ones to really have to pay this tax would be football clubs. From the bottom of my heart I hope that, along with the government, we can find a solution. I think that is the minister’s wish – and, in any case, it is mine.”
The LFP has claimed that the new tax could cost French clubs a total of Eur80 million, but Moscovici countered in L’Equipe: “My minister’s calculations make it around Eur45 million. This tax is an effort requested for a limited period, of companies that pay extremely big salaries, in virtue of the effort that everyone.
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