Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Soak That Tiger!

Hank Adler says it'll happen in Obamanation:
WHEN Tiger Woods collected his $1,350,000 check for winning the US Open golf championship last month, his federal and California taxes approximated $586,000. So, Tiger got to keep about $764,000, or 57 percent of his winnings.

It was fortunate for Tiger that he won in 2008. ....

...[Barack] Obama's twin tax proposals are to: 1) remove the "cap" from Social Security taxes for individuals earning over $250,000, a plateau Tiger has long since surpassed in 2008, and 2) eliminate the "Bush" tax cuts, thereby raising the top marginal federal income tax rate to 39.6 percent.

This would increase Tiger's taxes on his winner's check to about $776,000, a boost of almost $190,000. Instead of keeping 57 percent of his earnings and the government taking 43 percent, Tiger's federal and California taxes under the Obama proposals would amount to 57 percent of his winnings, leaving Tiger with just 43 percent.

Prefer baseball?

The New York Yankees have a 2008 payroll of about $208 million. Under the Obama proposals, the 24 Yankee players would be hit with an aggregate increase in federal income taxes of just over $22 million - with slugger Alex Rodriguez single-handedly getting dunned with $2.6 million in added federal taxes. The Yankees' owner would owe another $7.5 million of federal taxes.

Ticket prices would need to rise about $65 million so that the owner and players could have the same after-tax income as before- an average $16 per ticket. This would more than double the cost of a seat in the bleachers, now $14.

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