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‘Messi is not going anywhere’: Barcelona

Rumours that the injured Lionel Messi may be eyeing an exit from Barcelona were slammed by the clubs president on Thursday.

Published: 12 December 2013 18:45 CET

'Messi is not going anywhere': Barcelona

Photo: Quique García/AFP

Messi will be going nowhere as long as Sandro Rosell is in charge at Barcelona, the Catalans’ president.

“As long as I’m president of Barca, everything will be done that is possible and even impossible so that Messi stays at the club,” said Rosell at an event to present a partnership with American electronics giant Intel.

“It is extremely difficult, not to say impossible, that Messi will leave the club.”

Four-time Ballon D’Or winner Messi is currently injured and out of action until January.

He is under contract until 2018, which will take him almost up to his 31st birthday.

But speculation about Messi’s future was sparked on Tuesday by Barca’s economic vice-president Javier Faus’s assertion that they did not need to renegotiate his contract.

“Why? His contract was only renegotiated six months ago,” said Faus in an interview with Rac1 radio station.

According to media claims in Spain, Messi has a €250 million euro buy-out clause, although teams that could afford him that are few and far between.

The rumours about a possible renegotiation seem to stem from a question of salaries.

Cristiano Ronaldo signed a new contract at Real Madrid in September allegedly making him the highest paid player in Spain, according to Sports newspaper Marca, on €17 million a season, with Messi supposedly being paid ‘only’ €16 million, according to Forbes magazine.

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Beskæftigelsesfradraget: What is Denmark's employment allowance?

What is the employment allowance?

The Beskæftigelsesfradraget (from beskæftigelse, meaning employment, and fradrag, meaning rebate) was brought in by the centre-right Liberal Party back in 2004, the idea being that it would incentivise people to get off welfare and into a job.

Everyone whose employer pays Denmark’s 8 percent AM-bidrag, or arbejdsmarkedsbidrag, automatically receives beskæftigelsesfradraget. Unlike with some of Denmark’s tax rebates, there is no need to apply. The Danish Tax Agency simply exempts the first portion of your earnings from income taxes.

In 2022, beskæftigelsesfradraget was set at 10.65 percent of income with a maximum rebate of 44,800 kroner.

How did the government agree to change the employment allowance in its coalition deal?

In Responsibility for Denmark, the coalition agreement between the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the Moderate Party, the new government said it would set aside 5 billion kroner for tax reforms.

Of this, 4 billion kroner was earmarked for increasing the employment allowance, with a further 0.3 billion going towards increasing an additional employment allowance for single parents.

According to the public broadcaster DR, the expectation was that this would increase the standard employment allowance to 12.75 percent up to a maximum rebate of 53,600 kroner.

How might this be further increased, according to Børsen?

According to a report in the Børsen newspaper, the government now plans to set aside a further 1.75 billion kroner for tax reforms, of which nearly half — about 800 million kroner — will go towards a further increase to the employment allowance.

The Danish Chamber of Commerce earlier this month released an analysis in which it argued that by raising removing all limits on the rebate for single parents and raising the maximum rebate for everone else by 20,300 kroner, the government could increase the labour supply by 4,850 people, more than double the 1,500 envisaged in the government agreement.

According to the Børsen, the government estimates that its new extended allowance will increase the labour supply by 5,150 people.

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