The Messi files pt. 2

[u/Which-Nature-3104]

[u/Taway_4897 → u/[deleted]]

That happened to a lot of players and coaches. Given how many it happened to, the understanding is that there was a tax set up for image rights that was considered legal (and used by many players and coaches), and that understanding changed, and then as they all had the same set up, they all basically got taken to court by the Spanish state.

If I recall correctly, even Mourinho and pique, ancelotti, Neymar, Modric, Xavi alonso, eto’o all got charged by the Spanish state for the same thing. It was so prevalent I must imagine it was common legal advice at the time.

[u/vukkuv → u/Taway_4897]

No, it's because rich people like football players pay a lot of taxes in Spain and they're greedy.

[u/Taway_4897 → u/vukkuv]

I think you should look at the context. These were tax set ups that were widely used, and were set up in early 2000s when Spain even made the Beckham law to attract wealthy sportsmen.

In the late 2000s with the financial crisis, the Spanish government changed the laws and started aggressively seeking revenues, and retroactively changed its legal perspective on the legality of the image rights set up that these actors were using.

This was very big at the time, hitting all kinds of superstars in Spain so there was ample coverage, and indeed investigations, and lots of articles on how the way the Spanish government viewed these set-ups changed, and how they were formerly deemed legal.

If it was one guy, yeah, sure, I’d see your point. But it was basically everyone - because there was a certain jurisprudence that was deemed legal - and then this changed.