Weekend Wall Street Journal editorial, The Tax Bowl: Roethlisberger vs. Rodgers vs. Romo:

We won’t predict the winner of this Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers. But we can report this much: The Steelers will get to keep a lot more of their season earnings, though both team’s players would be a lot richer if they played all of their home games in Dallas.

Take the Packers’ fleet-footed quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He made $8.6 million in 2009. …  Of that, we calculate he paid roughly $680,000 in state and $3.1 million in federal income and payroll taxes. Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger didn’t earn as much, but he got to keep a relatively larger chunk of his haul—$4.6 million of his $7.7 million salary. (This excludes taxes paid to states that tax players visiting on away games.)

Unlike Wisconsin, which has a graduated income tax that charges top earners 7.75% on earnings over $220,000, Pennsylvania has a 3% flat rate. Even football players can behold the merit of a flat tax. Of course, both players would keep a lot more of their earnings if like quarterback Tony Romo (salary: $625,000) they played for the Cowboys since Texas levies no state income tax. …

It’s also worth noting that Messrs. Rodgers and Roethlisberger will save roughly $750,000 combined this year (if their salaries stay the same) thanks to the extension of the Bush tax cuts. This ought to console Sunday’s loser.