LISBON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Portuguese soccer players' union president Joaquim Evangelista has threatened to call for strikes if the government goes ahead with income tax increases for footballers, the news agency Lusa said.

'There has to be adequate treatment for short-term professions...it is like that in all of Europe,' Lusa quoted Evangelista as saying.

A Finance Ministry spokesman said the government had approved the measure in 2003 and raised income taxes for soccer players by 10 percent every year since.