La Liga president Javier Tebas has expressed concerns that tax laws in Spain could act as a deterrent for future stars joining the league.
Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is the latest high-profile player who’s tax activity have led to legal proceedings in the country.
“In the case of Cristiano, we will wait until the end and respect the presumption of innocence,” Tebas is quoted as saying by Diario AS.
“We must not forget that in the cases under investigation Cristiano was not tax resident in Spain, which has legal ramifications.
“What I can say is that football has paid the historic debt it had with Hacienda, and that football, a sector which generates more than €1 billion in taxes for the state, needs legal certainty.”
Could this deter players in the future from coming to the league?
“No doubt, but not tax pressure in itself, rather the change in criteria for the tax authority in many aspects of football -from agents' commissions to players' image rights to the taxes due when a foreign club sells a player to Spain,” he continued.
“Without doubt all this makes us lose competitively against rivals like the Premier League, who have much clearer and better tax laws.
“I am not asking for anything strange, just to let us compete on an equal playing field.”
