By Andrew Warshaw
November 1 – French professional clubs look certain to carry out their threatened strike after the country’s President Francois Hollande (pictured) refused to exempt them from his controversial 75% tax on high earners.
The so-called supertax on annual earnings over €1 million is due to kick in next year, prompting clubs to recently vote unanimously to boycott fixtures scheduled for November 29 and December 2, the first walkout by French players since 1972 and affecting the two top leagues.
Hollande refused to budge after meeting French football chiefs Thursday. The Union of Professional Football Clubs (UCPF) argues that the tax would make it impossible to compete with other major European leagues and would spark an exodus of France’s most talented players.
Hollande was quoted in a statement as saying: “The need to clean up public finances fully justifies this effort demanded of businesses that choose to pay such high annual salaries.”
French prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault added that the French public “would not understand why football companies should be exonerated” from the tax.
“During difficult times it is normal to call on those who are better off to show more solidarity,” Ayrault told the Kommersant newspaper in Russia, where he was on an official two-day visit. He reiterated that the tax would only last two years.
The clubs had hoped to convince Hollande, whose current approval rating is the lowest of any serving French president on record, to sympathise with their case. “The president listened attentively but absolutely did not hear us,” Frederic Thiriez, head of the French Football League, told AFP following the meeting. “No solution was found, so the mobilisation is going ahead.”
The tax would affect the salaries of around 120 players at 14 French clubs. Paris St. Germain would be one of the hardest hit since the Qatari-owned club has 10 players on its payroll who earn more than a million euros annually, including star Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Monaco, which does not fall under French tax laws, would be controversially exempt.
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