I was one of millions to suffer agony and torment last night. No, I wasn't worried about the loss of a couple of data CD's. I was watching England lose at football.
Richard Brooks has the best analysis of this loss today. As he says, it's all Gordon Brown's fault we have so few good English players in the Premier League. Writing for The First Post he says:
why do overseas players now dominate? As the supposedly economically competent Gordon Brown would understand, it's because they enjoy a huge and unfair competitive advantage over British players. Tax rules allow foreign players to claim 'non-domicile' status and, with the help of clever lawyers, pay 40 per cent less tax than their British rivals on much of their income. Savvy clubs and agents aren't slow to exploit the gap: Treasury figures reveal 300 such 'non-dom' players.
And I suspect he's right. Unfair taxes undermine society at the end of the day, and football is just one area that suffers as a result. Brown is responsible for this.
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As a former minor league player and supporter of Ipswich Town since the 1960s I believe that much of the problem lies with supporter expectation. The English supporter likes players who ‘get stuck in’. Consequenctly the technical side of the game and obvious issues such as ball control and passing become overlooked.
It was quite clear on the night that Croatia were technically superior to England, and were top of the group on merit.
What is needed is a grass roots appraisal of the national game, starting with the new centre of excellence at Burton. The short term objectives of league managers and chairman need to be curtailed and the ridiculous division between the football leagues and the FA resolved.
If England continues to hold its head in the sand the gap between our national football team and superior teams from the Continent and elsewhere will continue to grow.
Tax rules allow foreign players to claim ‘non-domicile’ status and, with the help of clever lawyers, pay 40 per cent less tax than their British rivals on much of their income.
Yes, the part of their income they don’t earn on UK income (i.e they pay the same tax on what they earn at premiership clubs as English players) – do you know anything about non-dom tax law?
Alex’s mail fails my usual test for inclusion on the site – being sent (as is normal for those of abusive persuasion) from a fake email address.
As a matter of fact it is Alex who shows his ignorance here. Foreign players may indeed pay UK tax on their footballing income, but as anyone who knows a little about football these days also knows, that is far from the full income of “star”. They are also paid by their clubs for “image rights”, These can be paid offshore if the player is non-domiciled. They earn substantial sums from advertising and other arrangements. Again, the non domciled player can exploit this.
The result is that they achieve a higher after tax income from a gross receipt in the UK than they do elsewhere, or when compared to UK players. Clubs can exploit this by effectively securing their services at lower rate than might be required eleewhere, meaning foreign players are effectively cheaper than UK based ones.
As such the UK football economy is biased in their favour.
So yes I, and Richard Brooks (a former tax inspector) who wrote the article do have some idea of what we’re talking about. We just happen to also realise that the world is a complex place and that sometimes those fuelled by a little knowledge and a desire for abuse make themselves look rather foolish.
I am sorry to disagree with you, but I do in essence agree with Alex. The UK football teams have globalised as all successful service firms, so now they have global supporters and pick the best players from anywhere and everywhere.
As such, offering a non-UK domiciled tax package, whereby secondary non-earned income is exempt from tax is only reasonable. The UK economy will be weaker if we lose high earners like them, both for revenue and prestige. I don’t know the amount of secondary income for footballers, and I am sure for a few it can be massive amounts, but we are talking the exception rather than the rule.
If our England players do not know how to play as a team, that’s their managers fault