Last night, the Giants and 49ers met for a Week 3 matchup on TNF. New York fought to keep the game close, but they would lose 30-12 and drop to 1-2. While the loss to San Francisco was tough, QB Daniel Jones and his teammates lost in another way.
According to Robert Raiola, Jones had to pay $76k in jock tax for playing in California. Jock Tax is something that has been swept under the rug for a number of years now. However, it’s been gaining a lot of attention lately. Most sports fans or the average Joe have not heard of Jock Tax because it doesn’t affect them. We’re here to give you a more in-depth look into what Jock Tax really is and how it affects professional athletes.
Jock Tax: What is it and how does it affect professional athletes like Daniel Jones?
The NYG business trip to California to play the 49ers will cost Daniel Jones approximately $76,000 in CA state tax.
— Robert Raiola, CPA (@SportsTaxMan) September 22, 2023
When filing your taxes online, you get asked if you performed work outside of your residential state. Often, the answer is no for a majority of Americans. However, professional athletes pay what’s known as a Jock Tax when they play in another state. They pay a portion of their salary to most states and cities they visit.
The weird part about Jock Tax is that nobody truly benefits from it. Athletes still owe money to their home states when they play. So they are never really saving any money in that aspect. In most professional sports leagues, teams play an equal amount of road and away games. With that, most states collect about the same amount they would make if Jock Tax did not exist at all. Mark Dent of The Hustle called it “stealing from one pocket to pay into another pocket.”
Athletes have the most complicated taxes.
NFL, NBA, and MLB players file 10 to 25 tax returns each year, and some athletes pay more than $1 million to states they don’t even live in.
This is because of the Jock Tax.
And it all started with Michael Jordan.
Here’s the story 👇 pic.twitter.com/b5KPUy6kpW
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) April 17, 2023
Jock Tax has been challenged a number of times in the past, but nothing has changed. In 2022, Pittsburgh “levied a 3% facility usage fee against the earnings made in the city by nonresident professional athletes.” Numerous player associations deemed that this Jock Tax is unconstitutional. As a whole, Jock Tax makes US taxes even more complex. This has been happening for over 30 years now and changes don’t seem to be happening any time soon.
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