Rookie wrote:I'm surprised that this issue isn't addressed by the NBA. It is not a level playing field when teams can use their state income tax laws to create an unfair advantage in recruiting players basically offering more then teams in states like NY that have a higher income tax.

It really is as simple as using real after tax numbers instead of pre tax numbers. When a team in a particular state, like Texas for example, can offer a player an additional 4-5M more then another team, it creates an unfair advantage for that team that other teams in the league do not have. Am I wrong here?

The cost of living is different everywhere in the country. State income tax aside, it's a lot cheaper to live in Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Denver, Charlotte, etc etc etc than NYC, LAL, Boston, DC, etc. Team salary caps don't adjust for that. It's the same for every team. So for teams in small markets that is also an advantage. So if state income tax is a problem, then it's just a small part of a much bigger problem. That is the way i see it at least.

Knixkik wrote:

Rookie wrote:I'm surprised that this issue isn't addressed by the NBA. It is not a level playing field when teams can use their state income tax laws to create an unfair advantage in recruiting players basically offering more then teams in states like NY that have a higher income tax.

It really is as simple as using real after tax numbers instead of pre tax numbers. When a team in a particular state, like Texas for example, can offer a player an additional 4-5M more then another team, it creates an unfair advantage for that team that other teams in the league do not have. Am I wrong here?

The cost of living is different everywhere in the country. State income tax aside, it's a lot cheaper to live in Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Denver, Charlotte, etc etc etc than NYC, LAL, Boston, DC, etc. Team salary caps don't adjust for that. It's the same for every team. So for teams in small markets that is also an advantage. So if state income tax is a problem, then it's just a small part of a much bigger problem. That is the way i see it at least.

I don't think you can quantify cost of living as easily as you can real after tax dollars

CrushAlot wrote:

Rookie wrote:I'm surprised that this issue isn't addressed by the NBA. It is not a level playing field when teams can use their state income tax laws to create an unfair advantage in recruiting players basically offering more then teams in states like NY that have a higher income tax.

It really is as simple as using real after tax numbers instead of pre tax numbers. When a team in a particular state, like Texas for example, can offer a player an additional 4-5M more then another team, it creates an unfair advantage for that team that other teams in the league do not have. Am I wrong here?

I have brought this up a lot. The cba needs to be adjusted to make it fair for all teams. It was just reported the other day that Ariza was offered the same contract from the Wiz and the Rockets. The report said that he chose the Rockets because the tax break made it much more lucrative to play in Texas with the tax break. Texas and Florida are the two states with nba franchises that I am aware of that have this benefit. Guys that play for the Nets and Knicks also have to pay an additional nyc income tax. It is around 12-13% of their income.

It also came up a lot when Melo was visiting teams. In a comparison of offers, most media used after tax numbers to compare the differences in offers of NYK, Rockets, Mavs Bulls and Lakers.

Rookie wrote:

Vmart wrote:Agreed time to get rid of state income tax altogether.

funny, if NYS passed a law that said professional athletes won't have to pay state or local income tax an outspoken owner like Cuban would probably **** a pickle. Do you think Dirk signs for 7M if he hadn't already benefited tens of millions of dollars in state tax

Bonn1997 wrote:

Rookie wrote:

Vmart wrote:Agreed time to get rid of state income tax altogether.

funny, if NYS passed a law that said professional athletes won't have to pay state or local income tax an outspoken owner like Cuban would probably **** a pickle. Do you think Dirk signs for 7M if he hadn't already benefited tens of millions of dollars in state tax

Yeah, but the tradeoff is that he had to live in Texas. I don't know of many Europeans dying to live in Texas!

But I'm sure there are a lot of Europeans and American players that want to live in Miami...

Bonn1997 wrote:Maybe we can level the field for sales tax too since that's lower in NY than Fl or Tx. But we should be compensated for our lack of beaches and snowy winters.

What about commuting/traffic, real estate?

The City of New York is the advantage over most places correct

meloshouldgo wrote:

Knixkik wrote:

Rookie wrote:I'm surprised that this issue isn't addressed by the NBA. It is not a level playing field when teams can use their state income tax laws to create an unfair advantage in recruiting players basically offering more then teams in states like NY that have a higher income tax.

It really is as simple as using real after tax numbers instead of pre tax numbers. When a team in a particular state, like Texas for example, can offer a player an additional 4-5M more then another team, it creates an unfair advantage for that team that other teams in the league do not have. Am I wrong here?

The cost of living is different everywhere in the country. State income tax aside, it's a lot cheaper to live in Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Denver, Charlotte, etc etc etc than NYC, LAL, Boston, DC, etc. Team salary caps don't adjust for that. It's the same for every team. So for teams in small markets that is also an advantage. So if state income tax is a problem, then it's just a small part of a much bigger problem. That is the way i see it at least.

Cost of living applies to people like us. It's almost irrelevant to people making millions. The tax on the other hand makes a sizeable difference.