Football supertax is toned down

SOCIALIST presidential candidate François Hollande has moved to tone down his 75% tax attack on high-paid footballers.

His plan to tax revenues of more than €1 million a year has been widely attacked by clubs and fans as leading to the "death of French football" and its "relegation to the European Second Division".

However, he said ways to "smooth out" high earnings over time would be found - but added that many French players were already playing abroad under the present tax rules.

He said: "I'm not trying to blame them, but footballers already have tax procedures that allow them to smooth exceptional earnings out over several years."

A known football fan, he said during a question and answer session on France 2 TV he had a lot of "respect" for footballers' talents, but added: "At the same time, they too should pay note that we are living in a period of inflation. The majority of clubs are making a loss and there's still time for some common sense."

When a questioner said his plans for a new supertax would prevent the likes of World Cup hero captain Zinedine Zidane from playing in France he retorted: "Didn't he play in France when he was the great champion we all know?

"Frankly, we are in the middle of an economic crisis, a period of hardship for all citizens: signals have to be sent!

"What should I do? I'm not confiscating their money. It's to say 'keep pay down' especially for bosses of large companies."

Former Socialist prime minister Laurent Fabius, speaking on RMC radio, said later that the tax would be temporary: "We are in exceptional times and it is right that those who are lucky enough to have very high earnings should pay an exceptional tax."