France will not exempt soccer clubs from new supertax

PARIS: France’s revamped 75 percent super-tax on annual salaries above one million euros will apply to all companies, officials in the prime minister’s office said on Tuesday, rejecting suggestions that soccer clubs would be exempt.
President Francois Hollande is redrafting his super-tax plan to apply to firms paying the highest salaries after the Constitutional Court rejected an initial plan to impose the levy on individuals themselves.
The policy, seen as a symbolic attempt to force the rich to contribute to painful measures to pull France out of economic crisis, suffered another potential setback on Monday when a top French soccer official said clubs would not have to pay it.
Noel le Graet, president of the French Football Federation, said soccer clubs employing players on million-euro salaries would be exempt from the tax because it would only apply to businesses with more than 5,000 workers.
But an official at Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault’s office told reporters that was incorrect.
“The new measure will affect all companies paying out salaries above 1 million euros,” he said, adding that no company would be exempt, regardless of size.
Details of exactly how the tax will work remain vague, but officials said companies would pay a total adding up to 75 percent in tax — which includes all social fees — on the portion of individuals’ wages exceeding one million euros.
A second official at Ayrault’s office confirmed the tax would apply to soccer clubs as well as employers of performers such as actors and singers on company payrolls. It would apply to small and medium-sized firms as well as larger ones.
Les Echos business daily, citing finance ministry sources, reported that the new tax could raise 500 million euros ($640 million) per year, double what the original version was set to raise, although it should apply to just under 1,000 people as against 1,500 for the initial plan.