Foreign footballers playing in the Spanish Liga who earn more than 600,000 euros a year will soon be paying 19% more tax thanks to a change in the rules approved today by parliament.

The rule change means that players who come to Spain and earn more than 600,000 a year will soon be paying non-resident tax of 43% rather than the 24% they've been paying up til now.

Economy Minister, Elena Salgado (pictured), explained that the new rules will apply only to contracts drawn up for more than 600,000 euros per annum after January 1st 2010.  Those players who currently earn in excess of that amount can carry on paying only 24% tax for the next five years.

The Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP) has called an Extraordinary General Assembly for next Friday to discuss the issue, complaining that the new measures will make Spain less competitive when it comes to signing the best players, which in turn would do "irreparable damage to Spanish football" and would "take away the power of the Spanish league and stop it being the best league in the world".

But Salgado insists that "the current situation is not reasonable, and the current tax system was not designed specifically for footballers, but rather for scientists and creative people, the ones Spain needed to attract and hold on to for at least five years".

The new 43% tax rate would make the Spanish system much more similar to the Italian and German tax systems.  Any Italian footballer who earns more than 75,000 euros a year has to pay 43% tax, just like any other Italian citizen and in Germany, footballers' earnings that exceed 250,000 euros per annum are taxed at 45%.  France is currently debating changes to its tax system and a decision will be made in the coming weeks.