As part of their unfaltering quest to dilute the power of big spending English clubs, UEFA are said to be interested in introducing a Major League Baseball-style luxury tax policy as part of their ‘Financial Fair Play’ campaign. The Associated Press explains:
The MLB system works by taxing free-spending clubs on all they spend above a set payroll. If the luxury tax idea found favor, big spending soccer clubs would have to pay their tax before being allowed to play in the Champions League and the second-tier UEFA Cup, renamed the Europa League next season.
Among the clubs who would suffer most from this new proposal are Manchester Utd and Chelsea, who operate with huge wage bills and equally huge debts. The money collected from these taxes would be distributed around the league - last season, for example, the New York Yankees were forced to dish out over £20m to their rivals.
Obviously upset at the prospect of paying the wages of the rest of the Premier League, Chelsea chief exec Peter Kenyon made his views on the matter quite clear:
“I don’t think a luxury tax should be treated any more seriously than some of the things that have been proposed over the last month.
“We believe as clubs and as the European club association (that) financing of clubs are issues for clubs and that governing bodies should again concentrate very much on the organization structures and the licensing structures they are currently implementing.”
