Spanish League faces strike fears

Players in Spain's La Liga could take strike action over a planned tax hike for its top-earning foreign stars.
The government wants to raise the rate for overseas players earning more than 600,000 euros from 24% to 43% in 2010


The Liga de Futbol Professional (LFP) argues the increase will stop leading players from coming to La Liga. But the government argues that it is promoting "tax equality" in a recession which has seen unemployment levels in Spain approaching 20%.

Its proposal would amend the so-called "Beckham Law", named after the England midfielder and former Real Madrid player. The law was approved in 2002 to make hiring foreign high-earners in all fields easier, and to make Spain more attractive to the specially qualified or skilled.

The new measure, to be implemented on 1 January, will not affect foreign players already in Spain such as Real's Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka or Barcelona's Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Lionel Messi.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/8345593.stm