A revenge rule made due to Michael Jordan once again deprived a sports athlete of a fortune. Well, we are talking about the Jock Tax. After clinching a thunderous win over the Mavericks, the Boston Celtics offered Jayson Tatum a $315 million deal. While this will be the biggest deal in the NBA, Tatum will have to dish out $4.7 million annually as Jock Tax.
The deduction was started due to MJ. The story behind Jock Tax dates back to 1991 when the Chicago Bulls legend defeated the Los Angeles Lakers to win the first championship. As per Joe Pompliano, Los Angeles decided to implement a non-resident tax on visiting players, which meant Jordan had to pay the taxes even when he was not a resident of LA.
Illinois legislation didn’t take the matter lightly. Rumors suggest that as a form of retaliation, Illinois implemented a similar rule requiring every athlete to pay taxes for the city, even if they didn’t reside there. Interesting?
As per a report by Bloomberg, the Jock tax is “based on the amount of time a player contributed to ‘income-related work’ in any state that administers an income tax”. While Tatum’s $315 million deal is making headlines, many tend to forget that the player will only receive half of it.
How much Jayson Tatum will earn from the deal?
As per a post by Andrew Petcash, Tatum’s annual salary is about $62.8 million. However, $23.2 million for federal tax, $8.1 million for Medicare and Escrow, and $1.4 million for the agent will reduce Tatum’s overall income to $25.2 million. Before announcing Tatum’s deal, it was also revealed that the Boston Celtics might be up for a change in ownership.
The Boston Basketball Partners LLC has announced its plans to sell the shares by 2028. The statement released by the Celtics read, “The controlling family of the ownership group, after considerable thought and internal discussion, has decided to sell the team for estate and family planning considerations.”
While Jayson Tatum has been offered the largest contract ever in the NBA, many other players in the league are likely to receive a steady boost in salary. The NBA has forged major lucrative deals with ESPN, Amazon, and NBC, which will benefit different franchises and their owners will also be benefitted. It’s certainly a good time to be associated with the league.
Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.
