River Plate has criticized the Milei administration's decision to increase the tax rate on football clubs.

River Plate on Tuesday night criticized the national government's decision to increase the tax that football clubs pay as a withholding tax on player sales, membership fees, and television rights. The Núñez-based club, in a lengthy statement published on its official website and social media, considers this measure, which was published Monday in the Official Gazette and will go into effect on August 1, to be very detrimental to the institution.

"The government made the decision to increase that retention from 8 percent to 18 percent, putting at risk our independent management model and the continuity of the training, support, and development programs that the club provides to more than 30,000 children and young people in the country," explains River Plate, which will be forced to pay astronomical amounts of taxes compared to other clubs that lack the capacity to sell players in multi-million dollar transactions and do not base a large part of their budget on the money that comes in from membership fees.

And they cite as an example the case of Franco Mastantuono and his transfer to Real Madrid , which became a record transaction in Argentine football. "This year, for the sale of Franco Mastantuono (River), River Plate paid $5 million in the 8% withholding tax under the special regime that the government is attacking. With the increase to 18% of this withholding tax, that figure would have been $12 million."

As a non-profit organization, the institution headed by Jorge Brito not only uses this money for professional soccer, but also serves to promote the development of the lower divisions and other sports activities. It also supports the operation of the educational system—both the school and the university—and its social contributions.

In this regard, the club is asking the national government to find a way to strike a balance so that the club doesn't become underfunded by the tax rate increase. "We request the opening of a channel of dialogue that will allow us to find sustainable solutions, preserve our independent management model, and guarantee the continuity of the training, support, and development programs that football provides to the country," they state in the statement.

In an interview with Clarín, the club stressed: "Under the previous system, River Plate contributed significantly by adapting to a solidarity-based system to sustain football . But we can't allow it to be said that the club benefited from this and that it built a school, because the school was built with the efforts of its members (not with taxpayers' money). Everything River Plate does, it has done without any state funding ."

Javier Milei's government once again declared war on the Argentine Football Association, led by Claudio Chiqui Tapia, on Monday. This was not through a direct push for the entry of sports corporations, halted by injunctions, but rather through a ruling published this Monday in the Official Gazette, which establishes an increase in the tax rate for football club contributions.

The rate will increase from 7.5% to 13.06%, with an additional 5.56% added over the next 12 months to "offset the accumulated deficit and guarantee the financing of the pension system." The measure will take effect on August 1 and will affect multiple activities related to the football industry, both at clubs and the AFA, such as ticket sales, transfers and loans, sponsorship contracts, television rights, betting revenue, big data marketing, and commissions paid to agents and representatives.

Beyond the publication in the Official Gazette, the Minister of Deregulation, Federico Sturzenegger , took it upon himself hours later to explain the reasons that led to the rate update. He did so through a lengthy post published on the X network that included harsh criticism of the AFA.

And there he gave River Plate as an example: "So you understand the absurdity and without wanting to stigmatize anyone, the AFA says that for the Vélez Sarsfield club, returning to the general system would have meant paying 26 times more in contributions to the retirement system. In River Plate's case, 22 times more. The judge says that's outrageous. But he omitted to mention that Vélez contributed $12,000 for 714 employees and River Plate $27,000 as retirement contributions for 1,530 employees. This is even though both clubs declared profits of $28 million and $65 million in their 2024 financial year balance sheets."

River, in its statement, also questioned Sturzenegger's calculations : "As a non-profit civil association, the Club employs 1,484 workers and makes contributions to the pension system for AR$ 8,078 million (calendar year 2024). Thanks to responsible and sustained administration since 2013, it maintains a broad social and educational structure. By 2025, the projected investment amounts to AR$ 29,547 million: AR$ 5,172 million destined for scholarships, medical coverage and food assistance; and AR$ 24,375 million for infrastructure works."

"Lies are the order of the day. The only truth is reality," reads the harsh statement issued by the soccer governing body in response to the measure promoted by Milei and Sturzenegger. "The government's only interest is pressuring clubs, non-profit entities (stifling them), to allow the incorporation of the SAD," it reads.

The Argentine Football Association claims that the government asked them to present a bill where "the numbers add up." According to the document they shared in response to Milei's decree, it was proposed "...that the percentage be increased from the current 8% to 8.50% on currently taxed items, while maintaining the 0.50% (included in the decree) for previous debt."

"Increasing the percentage to 8.50% perfectly covered the annual difference," AFA insists, adding: "Once informed of this, the State took no action, allowing Decree 939/24 to repeal Decree 510/23."

"After several meetings, the Committee issued a final report with the AFA proposal and, representing the Clubs, the government representatives who made up the commission, including the representative of the Ministry of Deregulation and State Transformation (Federico Sturzenegger), made a modification proposal that they submitted to the Chief of Staff (Guillermo Francos), which differs significantly from what was set forth in Provision 16/2025 (in which, for example, the debt percentage went from 0.50% to 1% and not to 5.56% as was established in Provision 16/2025)," the Argentine Football Association's statement concludes.

According to Sturzenegger, the proposal made by Tapia and company is deficient . In fact, one passage of the long tweet he posted in the early hours of the morning seems to respond to that paragraph: "The AFA and the clubs presented a clearly deficient proposal, so the government asked the AFA to guarantee any shortfall. But it seems that despite its millions in revenue, "Chiqui" Tapia's AFA didn't want to take any risks: it preferred to let the retirees continue paying."