The NCAA yesterday posted a voluminous response to outgoing House Ways & Means Committee Chair Bill Thomas’s letter questioning the NCAA’s tax exempt status:
[T]he scale of popularity of an enterprise does not diminish its educational value. “The lessons learned on the football field or men’s basketball court are no less in value or importance to those student-athletes than the ones learned on the hockey rink or softball diamond nor, for that matter, than those learned in theater, dance, music, journalism or other non-classroom environments,” Brand wrote. “The fundamental purpose of intercollegiate athletics is the education of student-athletes in both the classroom and on the field or court. The scale of the sport does not alter the fundamental purpose.”
- Press Release
- Letter to Bill Thomas (25 pages)
- Appendix A: Tax Law Basis for Tax Exemption of Intercollegiate Athletics (30 pages)
- Appendix B: Executive Summary on Academic Reform (3 pages)
Press coverage:
- Associated Press
- Chronicle of Higher Education
- Indianapolis Star
- Inside Higher Ed
- USA Today
- Washington Post
Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:
- Ways & Means Chair Thomas Questions NCAA’s Tax-Exempt Status (10/5/06)
- George Will on NCAA’s Tax-Exempt Status (10/25/06)
- NY Times on NCAA’s Tax Exempt Status (10/29/06)
- NY Times: NCAA Defends Its Tax-Exempt Status (10/31/06)
(Hat tip: Joshua Hollingsworth.)
4 responses to “NCAA Responds to Questions About Its Tax-Exempt Status”
NCAA DEFENDS TAX EXEMPTION; BOBBY STOOPS SALARY TOPS $3 MILLION
The NCAA yesterday responded to a letter from outgoing Ways and Means Chairman Thomas questioning whether the NCAA deserves tax…
NCAA DEFENDS TAX EXEMPTION; BOBBY STOOPS SALARY TOPS $3 MILLION
The NCAA yesterday responded to a letter from outgoing Ways and Means Chairman Thomas questioning whether the NCAA deserves tax…
NCAA DEFENDS TAX EXEMPTION; BOBBY STOOPS SALARY TOPS $3 MILLION
The NCAA yesterday responded to a letter from outgoing Ways and Means Chairman Thomas questioning whether the NCAA deserves tax…
NCAA DEFENDS TAX EXEMPTION; BOBBY STOOPS SALARY TOPS $3 MILLION
The NCAA yesterday responded to a letter from outgoing Ways and Means Chairman Thomas questioning whether the NCAA deserves tax…
Thomas strikes me as a person who was beat up by jocks throughout his educational career.
Still, the analogy used by the NCAA, comparing college sports to student musical groups vis a vis professional symphonies, belies the fact that the guys at the NCAA probably never went to a symphony. If they had, they’d know that most are also non-profit organizations.
I have a long (for a blog) series of responses to the NCAA at my blog, http://pacerpundit.typepad.com/