French to Strike, but This Time Owners Call It

Ian Langsdon/European Pressphoto Agency A French Ligue 1 match last weekend. The owners of Frances professional soccer teams plan to protest a tax on salaries of more than one million euros.
By SCOTT SAYARE Published: October 24, 2013 8 Comments

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PARIS The labor strike being something of a national sport in France, it should come as no surprise that its practitioners occasionally include professional athletes.

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Share your thoughts. Post a Comment Read All Comments (12) Yet the strike announced on Thursday by every professional soccer team in the nation has the distinction uncommon even for this country of coming at the behest of the owners. The Union of Professional Football Clubs, which represents the owners of Frances 43 professional teams, announced that matches scheduled for the weekend of Nov. 30 would not be played to protest a government plan to require companies to pay a 75 percent marginal tax on salaries of more than one million euros, or $1.38 million. Jean-Pierre Louvel, the president of the club owners group, said Thursday that the measure, approved by the lower house of Parliament last week, would mean the death of soccer in France, where many professional teams already operate at a loss. This is about saving French soccer, Mr. Louvel said at a news conference in Paris, adding that stadiums around the country would be open on the days of the canceled matches, with team representatives there to explain the strike to the public. Team executives are scheduled to meet with President Franois Hollande next week and will request that soccer teams receive an exemption from the planned tax. If we dont reach a consensus by consensus, I mean words that are translated into actions with the president of the republic, well continue our action, whatever form it may take, Mr. Louvel said. Lets be conscious of the drama that soccer is going through. Were the only country that taxes businesses that are losing money.

Frances top two divisions, Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, lost $149 million last season, according to league figures. Should the 75 percent tax be applied to soccer teams, it would be levied on the salaries of about 120 players from 14 teams in Ligue 1 and would produce $60.7 million in tax revenue this year, according to French news media reports. Its true that this could really hurt average clubs, said Jacques Vendroux, a longtime sportscaster for Radio France, the French public radio network. As many as 12 of the 20 clubs in Ligue 1 could be taxed into bankruptcy, Mr. Vendroux said. While a handful of French teams are bankrolled by wealthy foreign owners with few financial constraints, most teams, even the top ones, barely turn a profit. If the tax remains in place and the strike goes ahead as planned, he said, theyre going to be laughing at us across Europe and the entire world. Many of Frances top players have left the country to play in England or Germany, for instance, where salaries are often higher and taxes lower, owners noted Thursday, and higher taxes will only make it harder for French teams to recruit. French players do not enjoy a particularly gleaming reputation in France, however, and the notion of a strike is a delicate one for French soccer: the French national team made an ignominious name for itself in 2010 when it staged a strike, which was likened to a temper tantrum, at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Still, soccer is a beloved game here, and Mr. Hollande will have to tread lightly in handling the current standoff. A Socialist, he was elected last year after promising to combat the world of finance and to tax annual incomes of more than one million euros at 75 percent. Despite the outrage and doomsday predictions of free market economists and business leaders, Parliament approved the measure in 2012. But in an embarrassment to Mr. Hollandes government, the tax was soon ruled to be unconstitutionally high and struck down. The tax was amended, however, to be paid by employers, not workers, and capped at 5 percent of revenue. The new law, which would apply only to income in 2013 and 2014, must still be approved by the upper house of Parliament to take effect. That vote is likely to occur around the time of the planned soccer strike, in late November. It is not altogether clear how a strike would be received by the public. The same leftists who go on strike and back Mr. Hollandes 75 percent tax also fill the stadiums each weekend to cheer.