The tax contribution of Premier League clubs is set to exceed £1bn this season, according to accountancy firm Saffery Champness which has a number of footballers as clients.
This would represent an increase of more than a third over the last two seasons. Using figures from Deloitte’s annual football finance review, the firm says that the Premier League clubs contributed £725m to the Treasury in the 2009-10 season. Since then the clubs have benefitted from a 30 per cent uplift in broadcasting revenues, which clubs tend to use on increasing wages.
The tax contribution of Premier League clubs is set to exceed £1bn this season, according to accountancy firm Saffery Champness which has a number of footballers as clients.
This would represent an increase of more than a third over the last two seasons. Using figures from Deloitte’s annual football finance review, the firm says that the Premier League clubs contributed £725m to the Treasury in the 2009-10 season. Since then the clubs have benefitted from a 30 per cent uplift in broadcasting revenues, which clubs tend to use on increasing wages.
According to Pete Hackleton, the head of the sports and entertainment group at Saffery Champness, player transfers in the latest window have generated increases in some salaries of 20 per cent. But the main tax growth has come from the 50 per cent tax rate for high earners introduced in April 2010. Even if salaries across the league had remained flat, the high earners’ rate increase alone would have accounted for an extra £115m in income tax.
Another tax benefit from football has come from the increased value added tax rate of 20 per cent on ticket sales which has contributed about £25m more to the Treasury. For all their reservations about the football governance, ministers recognise the sport’s role as an industry that brings inward investment.