AFA (Argentine Football Association) and River Plate expressed their opposition to a measure of the Argentine government that increases taxes on soccer clubs.
The president of the country, Javier Milei, decreed last Monday (28) an increase in social contributions that should be made by soccer clubs, which so far had a special regime.
The River has plagued the “confiscatory” measure and argued that, “far from building a benefit, as he erroneously states (…), threatens to reverse the direct and positive economic impact of the club’s actions.”
In a statement published on its official page, River highlighted its social and educational work and stressed that the club “generates genuine foreign currency revenues for the country.”
Argentina’s minister of deregulation, Federico Sturzenegger, defended the decree on his account on social network X pointing out that the clubs were “retirees subsidized millionaires,” as they paid fewer taxes than predicted in the general regime.
Sturzenegger said clubs paid 7.5% rates and that, after the decree, they will pay 13%, plus an additional 5.56% for a year to “recover the deficit incurred during this period.”
After the measure, AFA issued a statement on its official page entitled “Lie, the Order of the Day. The only truth is reality,” in which it considered that the decree is “another way to harm institutions.”
“The only interest of the government is to press non-profit clubs (suffocating them) so that it is possible to incorporate the SADS (sports societies), which is nothing more than allowing speculative money to do business with our clubs and players formed in our grassroots categories,” said the entity.
In Argentina, teams that compete in professional football are non -profit civil associations controlled by partners, who pay tuition and have political rights.
Since taking over the presidency of the country, in December 2023, Javier Milei proposes to incorporate SADs in Argentine football, similar to those of SAFs (Pic Football Societies) in Brazil, which generated the resistance of most institutions.
