Taxation pays for all of the services that would otherwise need to be privatised. Since most owners are foreign and most sponsorship money is from overseas that pay their wages, then that shortfall would need to be recovered. It boosts the economy since it also covers public sector wages who then spend that 'foreign' money in the UK. The point is they already pay their share into our pot and do so fairly, not like Amazon or Starbucks or similar and I see no reason they should prop up the mismanagement of overspending Derby or Cardiff or whoever, but equally their position has been adversely affected by the current situation. Clubs could go to the wall and I think the govt has a responsibility to communities to keep that going (bloody hell sounds like me a leftie and you a tory on this!). They will get the money back in time from income tax so for goodwill factor then they should imo prop up the EFL (providing its fair and all participants receive equal amounts and not means tested).
Quite literally, in the GDP calculations, tax subtracts from the total size of the economy. Conceptually tax is for taking money out of circulation to curb behaviour or reduce inflation. (Interestingly historically taxes are there to give a currency value, no point in giving our useless money so demand taxes back). Taxes do not pay for spending and never have. That’s a fairy tale told to people about why we can’t spend.
The amount of tax someone pays in bears no relation to what they should receive. Even a moments thought shows this as a nonsense: why tax at all if it worked like you think? It’d be a zero sum game. It’s not a piggy bank for a rainy day like national insurance (in theory) it’s a curb on excess/undesirable economic activity.
Regardless the point from the government is that there is money in football even if it’s not evenly shared around. I have some sympathy with that point. Football taken as a whole has enough money to weather the storm. EPL clubs are where they are in large part because of the strength of the EFL clubs below them and should be made to redistribute that cash IMO. Any bail out would let them off the hook at a time where there’s significant pressure to change the funding model.
Politically footballers are well known for being overpaid (unlike women’s footballers or rugby players) so handing them cash would look terrible to a lot of the public as well. I can see why they’re reluctant.
