If the political parties approve the government bill to raise the betting tax from 3 per cent to 4.5 per cent to assist football clubs that owe millions of euros in taxes to the state, they will become accomplices to one of the biggest travesties of justice perpetrated in Cyprus.

Together with the government, they would be making complete mockery of the rule of law by approving the law that rewards the law breakers with generous funding by the taxpayers.

New heights of absurdity will be scaled. Instead of bringing criminal charges against the boards of football clubs, who have been breaking the tax laws for years, the government will be increasing the tax on betting and use the extra revenue generated to pay off their tax debts which the clubs have systematically refused to pay. They should be in prison which is the fate suffered by directors of businesses and self-employed individuals, who fail to pay their monthly social insurance contributions.

Governments, ever since that of Tassos Papadopoulos, have pulled out all the stops to help the clubs pay off their tax dues, arranging repayment schemes so they could pay off their debts over a period of years, but they invariably failed to honour the agreements. For businesses that fail to honour such agreements the full amount is demanded, but for football clubs another repayment schedule is arranged, and they ignore it again. After the last repayment schedule, from April 2023 to August 2024, not only did most clubs fail to make repayments, but they also have increased the total debts to the state by €4.1m.

Nobody should be surprised by this. The club directors take their state-granted impunity for granted, after years of blatantly violating the laws without any consequence except a mild reprimand by the finance minister. The clubs have accumulated tax debts to the state since 2007 totalling €35.6m, the authorities doing nothing while the amount was rising over the years. And now, as the state’s reward for the clubs’ total disregard for the law and the agreements they signed, the government will increase the tax on all betting to 4.5 per cent and the revenue will go towards repaying the law-breaking clubs’ social insurance, VAT and income tax debts. Diko has suggested the tax is increased to 5 per cent.

The problem is that no government wants to anger football supporters by punishing the clubs, many of which are insolvent. Nicosia’s leading club has debts of €40m that it can never repay but it is still allowed to operate as if nothing is happening. And the Cyprus Football Association which is supposed to implement Uefa’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, by which no club can spend more than it earns, has consistently turned a blind eye to what has been happening. With such tolerance shown to the clubs, is it any wonder their financial situation is deteriorating by the year?

Meanwhile the few clubs, like Aek Larnaca, that have been operating within their means and have duly met their tax obligations are being penalised for exercising financial prudence – it will get nothing from the state because it did not break the law. Only the consistent law breakers will be entitled to financial assistance from the state, under the ludicrous law the government has prepared.