The Spanish government has scrapped a plan to remove a tax break for high-earning foreigners despite countrywide criticism of Cristiano Ronaldo’s world-record transfer to Real Madrid.
Congress voted against a motion to amend a law that allows foreign football players to reduce their income tax rate to 24 per cent from 43 per cent, a spokesman for the ruling Socialist Party told Bloomberg.
The law was introduced in 2005 to lure foreign executives to the country.
“There’s a very privileged treatment of soccer players that has to be modified,” said Gaspar Llamazares, a deputy for United Left. “We can’t be a tax haven for anybody.”
It is believed a change in law would also have committed the government to considering a higher tax rate for top-earning Spaniards.
Real Madrid agreed to sign Ronaldo from Manchester United for £80 million ($132 million) and a reported salary of €13 million ($18.2 million) a year, more than any other football player worldwide.
