Spain: Bill would exclude athletes from tax advantages of "Beckham law"

A bill introduced on 23/06/2014 by the Spanish Ministry of Finance and Public Administration (Ministerio de Hacienda y Administraciones Públicas de España) would exclude athletes from the list of persons eligible for the "Beckham law", which allows foreigners residing in Spain to be taxed at up to 24% on their incomes (versus a maximum of 52% for Spanish citizens) if they earn less than €600,000 per year.

On 10/06/2005, the Aznar government (People's Party, Partido Popular, center-right) enacted a law allowing foreigners in highly skilled jobs to benefit from a maximum tax rate of 24%. The goal was to bring engineers, scientists, athletes, etc. to Spain. This law was popularly referred to as the "Beckham law" in Spain, as the former England international David Beckham was one of the first people to benefit at the time of his transfer to Real Madrid (ESP) from Manchester United (ENG) on 18/06/2005.

• At the time that the law was enacted in 2005, no maximum income limit was set. The law therefore allowed all foreigners residing in Spain to be taxed at a maximum of 24% on their income…