In Spain, any non-citizen or passport holder with less than ten years of residency in the country and with an annual income of more than €600,000 is required to pay a higher income tax rate of 43%. Other residents are taxed at a rate of 24%, one of the lowest in Europe.

Nevertheless, to ensure Spanish football clubs have an advantage in securing the services of the world’s top quality players, a special concession was given where they (and their clubs) are exempted from the law for the first six years of their contract, if they choose to,  called the ‘Beckham Law’. These players are then taxed the nominal rate (24%), the same as other residents.

That special arrangement is however under threat when yesterday two political parties, the Catalunya-Green party and the Galician Nationalist Bloc has proposed an amendment that could see it scraped, and this has the la Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP) up in arms.

“A modification to this special arrangement will cost the Spanish football clubs over a hundred million euros (each season), and if the law is adopted, we will have to take several drastic measures, going as far as suspending the competition,” LFP president Jose Luis Astiazaran said in an interview with Spanish news agency EFE.

The amendment, according to him would prevent Spain from attracting much of the footballing top talents as they are now with the English Premier League, where foreign players are required to pay a 50% income tax rate. This he said could have an adverse effect on the quality of Spanish football in the long term.