Pro athletes and taxes

I wasn't sure where to pit this topic, it's about athletes and their pay but not really about sports so here it is..


Bryce harper recently signed a 13yr $330 million contract to play baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies.
$25 million a year.
Honestly hes worth more than that but that's another story.

I'm focused on taxes here.

If mr harper live in Philadelphia for the length of the contract he will pay the city $12.6 million in income tax. That's a 4% rate.

If he lives outside of the city he will pay $5.1 million at a rate of 3.5%. Wonder why 0.5% makes such a big difference? He will only be taxed on the days he works in the city. Big difference.

But wait there more...
Pennsylvania will tax him $5 million.
His former town of DC would be $14.7 million.
LA or San Fran would be $22 million.
Florida would be zero... no state tax..

Anyway here's another fun stat.
After being paid $330m he will end up with $184m paying $146m in taxes over 13 years.
Approx 45% tax rate effectively.

www.delcotimes.com...

Here's a link to another site where they compare teams by tax rate..

www.google.com... taxes.amp

a reply to: Bluntone22


At least he's paying his taxes, the biggest scam in pro sports is when a team boondoggles a new publicly or semi-publicly funded stadium out of a city along with sweetheart tax deals under the mistaken premise that it is a net revenue generator overall. Studies have shown this is erroneous, let billionaires pay for their own damn stadiums.

a reply to: Bluntone22

This is exactly why so many Athletes flock to states like Florida. Many have homes there for tax purposes.
When I lived there it was pretty funny, we would constantly see professional athletes just eating at Chick Fil A,
or Jersey Mikes, etc. One guy used to go around the area with his golf cart.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Why would a billionaire buy a stadium when a city will buy one for them?

a reply to: JAGStorm

Most sports only last 3 or 4 months so you might as well live where you want the rest of the year.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Honestly hes worth more than that but that's another story.

*Cough* Bryce is overrated *Cough*

Edit: But at least he's paying his taxes, and he gives the public 160~ games a year.

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: Bluntone22

Honestly hes worth more than that but that's another story.

*Cough* Bryce is overrated *Cough*

Edit: But at least he's paying his taxes, and he gives the public 160~ games a year.

I agree...overrated....
Yet still underpaid....

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: JAGStorm

Most sports only last 3 or 4 months so you might as well live where you want the rest of the year.

I think Harper usually goes back to Nevada when he's not in season or doing spring training... AKA just a few months.

originally posted by: Bluntone22

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: Bluntone22

Honestly hes worth more than that but that's another story.

*Cough* Bryce is overrated *Cough*

Edit: But at least he's paying his taxes, and he gives the public 160~ games a year.

I agree...overrated....
Yet still underpaid....

Not as bad as Daniel Murphy when he was doing better than Bryce and batting before or after him.

I'm also interested to see how much DeGrom get's, probably not enough.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
Why would a billionaire buy a stadium when a city will buy one for them?

We can blame local politicians who buy into the misconception of increased revenue from a sports team who then sell it to a gullible public.

A perfect example is the soon to be former Oakland Carpetbaggers who wouldn't surprise me if they built a stadium on the surface of the sun at some point because it's free, and their dopey fans would most likely make the trek to see them play.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Yea, we need to get back into the sports that really make localities money, the Olympics and FIFA 💰💰💰.

All we gotta do is make a few bribes and we'll have one here in no time.

a reply to: CriticalStinker


I'm so shocked that something run in Europe is corrupt, that is just not possible.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Good god the Olympics is the biggest scam of them all...
I have to give Atlanta some credit though.
They built one stadium for the Olympics and then put the Braves in it so at least it didnt get abandoned.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: CriticalStinker

Good god the Olympics is the biggest scam of them all...
I have to give Atlanta some credit though.
They built one stadium for the Olympics and then put the Braves in it so at least it didnt get abandoned.

I think that Atlanta was one of the only cities in the past few decades not to take a loss.

Although next time around I think we should do the Sochi model and half ass the whole thing to really rake in some dough.

That's when sports get really bleak, not even taking in tax revenue in the case of having pro athletes in town who pay a good amount, rather they use tax revenue for a spectacle.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
I wasn't sure where to pit this topic, it's about athletes and their pay but not really about sports so here it is..


Bryce harper recently signed a 13yr $330 million contract to play baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies.
$25 million a year.
Honestly hes worth more than that but that's another story.

I'm focused on taxes here.

If mr harper live in Philadelphia for the length of the contract he will pay the city $12.6 million in income tax. That's a 4% rate.

If he lives outside of the city he will pay $5.1 million at a rate of 3.5%. Wonder why 0.5% makes such a big difference? He will only be taxed on the days he works in the city. Big difference.

But wait there more...
Pennsylvania will tax him $5 million.
His former town of DC would be $14.7 million.
LA or San Fran would be $22 million.
Florida would be zero... no state tax..

Anyway here's another fun stat.
After being paid $330m he will end up with $184m paying $146m in taxes over 13 years.
Approx 45% tax rate effectively.

www.delcotimes.com...

Here's a link to another site where they compare teams by tax rate..

www.google.com... taxes.amp

His "primary residence" will probably be in a low tax state like Florida. He will just commute for work. Florida has become very attractive to the wealthy and so a lot of them basically live in Florida but work elsewhere. Florida has been poaching a lot of the major hedge fund managers who make hundreds of millions / billions because tech allows them to basically work anywhere.

Even though most of these people could "afford" to pay the tax hit, there is no reason to and it is easily avoidable. Regardless of how much money they make, when you are paying several million in taxes that you don't need to pay if you just live somewhere else, then you are going to go live somewhere else. It is still a lot of money.

This is what liberals don't understand. Capital is fluid and will go to where it is taxed the least. When you are worth 9 or 10 figures, it is far cheaper to maintain two homes instead of paying confiscatory taxes in one state.

a reply to: Bluntone22

It's a little more complicated than that. Athlete's pay state income tax (in states that have an income tax) for every state that athlete earns money in. So, he will pay state income taxes for the games he plays in Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Chicago, for example, on a prorated basis.

a reply to: usernameconspiracy

It doesnt work that way.
He only pays taxes in the state of residence.
I have sent employees to Ohio from Indiana for installs and their taxes only apply in Indiana.

a reply to: Edumakated

It's where you earn the money that counts. For example, my daughter works in an industry where welders are hired routinely. They are all based in Texas, and live in Texas. When they go to a job site in Oklahoma, and earn their income over the course of, say six weeks, that six weeks worth of income is subject to Oklahoma income taxes, regardless of the fact that the individual lives in Texas. The income was earned within the state, and the state expects to collect the taxes due. Part of my daughter's job is to get everything set up with each state so income taxes are withheld while those employees are earning their income in that particular state.

a reply to: Bluntone22


The other poster is correct, they pay taxes in each state that they play, including some cities.

$25 million a year.
Honestly hes worth more than that but that's another story.

For hitting a ball with a stick.

And people ask what is going wrong with the country.

I bet in a few years the team will be trying to trade him off to save money.