Americans for Tax Reform:  Tax Bite Leaves Flacco Second Best Paid in NFL:

As reported
this week, Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens have
agreed to a six-year, $120.6 million contract making the star
quarterback the highest-paid player in NFL history, earning an estimated
$20.1 million per year. But being the “highest paid player” and earning
the most after tax pay are two very different things.

By choosing to remain a Raven, Flacco is now set to pay a combined
marginal income tax rate of 51.98%. This overwhelming tax rate is
composed of the federal, Maryland, and Baltimore County income tax
rate, as well as the Medicare tax. And that’s excluding his “jock tax”
liability for away games – play the Patriots at Gillette Stadium, pay
Massachusetts income tax on earnings for that game – and other taxes
levied against him such as Maryland’s property tax. …

Flacco may have the distinction of being the highest paid player in NFL history, but New Orleans Saints’ QB Drew Brees still earns more after tax pay. Brees’s contract, which he signed before last season, is a 5-year, $100 million dollar contract that pays around $20 million per year. After applying the marginal combined tax rate of 49.4% to the Saints QB’s contract salary, he stands to make $470,000 more after tax pay than the newly crowned “highest paid player.” …

Don’t be surprised if players begin to consider their tax liabilities even more now when making the decision of which team to ultimately sign with.