Hate Taxes? Be Thankful You're Not a Pro Athlete

Former Chicago Bears linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer was willing to pay his fair share of taxes to cities where he played. Cleveland, he says, got greedy. Hillenmeyer and former Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday are suing the city in the Supreme Court of Ohio for refunds of $5,062 and $3,294, respectively. They say it’s not the sum that matters but the principle: Cleveland taxes all the athletes on a visiting team for every game, even players who are hurt or don’t attend. “Nobody likes paying taxes—that’s obvious—but they should be fair,” says Hillenmeyer, who retired in 2010 after eight years in the National Football League. “It was just such an egregious and shameless money grab by the city of Cleveland, it just felt wrong not to try to do anything about it.”

Twenty-one states and eight cities that are home to major professional sports teams—including Detroit, Kansas City, and Philadelphia—tax visiting players, coaches, trainers, and others who accompany the team, says Sean Packard, an accountant in Virginia who handles taxes for about 200 athletes. These income taxes, often based on players’ salaries and how often they play in the state, can be a major revenue source. California collected $163.8 million in 2011 from resident and nonresident professional athletes for MLB, the NBA, NHL, NFL, WNBA, golf, tennis, and soccer, according to the state Franchise Tax Board. About $151 million of that came from the top four sports, the board said. Pittsburgh took in $3.1 million from pro athletes in 2013. Not all states and cities break out tax revenue from players.