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What is even more troubling to me is how an athlete can make 60 million dollars a year, and why tickets to games can cost $800 and up while our tax dollars subs
by winternett 4y ago
What is even more troubling to me is how an athlete can make 60 million dollars a year, and why tickets to games can cost $800 and up while our tax dollars subsidize it all... Back in the day there was a brutal revolution on taxing tea...
Now people are totally cool with student loans and mortgages indenturing our children for life while defense spending is astronomically higher than the moon.
Even mortgage interest deductions were gutted in the last 4 years.
I'm no revolutionary, and I painfully pay my fair share every year, but there is not much fair about taxes, and as usual it's always a costly lie to everyone that obeys the law/
- SomeBoolshit 4y agoIf popular athletes making lots of money is "even more troubling" to you, your priorities are messed up.
- pcbro141 4y agoTheir issue is not with the athletes making lots of money alone. It's that the league is spending so much, and bringing in so much revenue, while also taking taxpayer handouts.
- bmitc 4y agoThey are saying all that is more troubling because it isn't like the NFL and teams can't afford it. They are raking in money but still force the people to build their stadiums.
- texaslonghorn5 4y agorather than being troubled by the athlete salaries, be even more troubled by the vastly larger owner salaries
- barbazoo 4y ago> rather than being troubled by the athlete salaries, be even more troubled by the vastly larger owner salaries We can be troubled by multiple things at the same time.
- canadianfella 4y ago[dead]
- silisili 4y agoI at minimum would like to see tax issues divided into essential and nonessential, and for every nonessential to be voted on by the populace. If the taxpayers want the stadium, so be it. If most oppose, it feels like more government theft.
- Uvix 4y agoOne person's "essential" is another person's "nonessential". Schools, libraries, military, the EPA and IRS... it's an interesting idea but I don't see how you'll get agreement on what's actually "essential" beyond lawmakers' salaries.
- harha 4y agoThat’s why in most situations it would make sense to think about how to do and take less
- godelski 4y agoTypically we do this by voting. Voting is one means of solving collective dis/approval decisions.
- quickthrower2 4y agoHard to have any strategy when every issue goes to a WIIFM vote.
- bumby 4y ago>Even mortgage interest deductions were gutted in the last 4 years. You lost me here. Mortgage interest deductions are one of the few areas that economists seem uniquely in agreement against. It tends to incentivize the wrong behavior (excessive housing size/mortgages and being a regressive tax that favors the wealthier propertied classes). Just because people like it, does not make it prudent policy.
- bogomipz 4y agoI think you and the OP might be making the same point - that if policy dictates that tax breaks on mortgage interest deduction are capped at 750K then why is it acceptable to give members of professional sports oligopolies tax breaks for hundreds of millions of dollars?
- bumby 4y agoI’m not a disagreeing with the idea that tax breaks for stadiums is a bad idea. I’m saying something like mortgage deductions are evidence of the same type of bad policy for many of the same reasons. The OP seems to indicate one is bad while the other is good.
- maria2 4y agoThere are very few cases where mortgage interest deductions are better than the standard deduction.
- toast0 4y agoThat's only because the state and local tax deduction was limited at the same time as the mortgage interest deduction was (further) limited. The standard deduction also increased. Prior to that, it wasn't uncommon for people in higher income tax states to exceed the standard deduction with SALT and mortgage interest.
- throw0101c 4y ago> It tends to incentivize the wrong behavior (excessive housing size/mortgages and being a regressive tax that favors the wealthier propertied classes). In Canada mortgage interest is not tax deductible. What's done here is that, for your primary residence, any rise in value (capital gains) is not taxed when you sell it. The US and Canada have roughly the same home ownership rates.
- maxerickson 4y agoOther things are bad too, but the mortgage interest deduction is bad. Increasing the standard deduction above what the mortgage interest deduction would have been isn't something an individual should complain about (they are better off), and reducing the amount of principal that is deductible to around 2x the median home sale price isn't exactly screwing over the common man.
- CrumpetDiagonal 4y agoThe athletes making huge sums are not the ones we should be concerned about. They are under-paid in most cases relative to their worth to the billionaire individuals and corporations who make gigantic profits from tv rights, ticket sales, merchandise, revenue sharing, etc.
- nickff 4y agoBy what measure are the athletes under-paid, and by what measure are the owners and distributors over-paid?
- djbusby 4y agoIt's the spread between workers(labor) and owners(capital). Millionaires working for Billionaires could be under paid, the same as 100k-aires are underpaid by 100M-aires. Overpaid, or extremely wealthy by the global society - but under paid in their "local group" (for lack of better term) Edit: like when VC say they take the risk - bullshit. They just risk money - labor (athletes, entrepreneur) risk time and health. Those are not renewable - but money is.
- 55555 4y agoYou define underpaid as being lowly paid compared to their local group but also claim that the group in aggregate is underpaid. Makes no sense. I think your parent commenter was asking for a citation showing that NFL franchises rake in net profits for owners and another citation showing athletes wages are being held down artificially. You are presenting ideology as objective truth.
- colechristensen 4y agoLocally the people voted for it. Subsidizing billionaires and a sport and stadium really only enjoyable by the wealthy bothers me, but my fellow citizens were given the explicit choice and said yes so… I’m guessing the tea isn’t going to be dumped in the ocean any time soon.
- pleb_nz 4y agoImo sports and movie stars are over paid. I often wonder a world where people in STEM were acknowledged in the same way as sports and entertainment. Personally I think it's sad they're not and the world would be a better place if they were.
- mc32 4y agoUnfortunately, the only places that value these diverse skills more in line with the needs (rather than wants) of a society are the ones run by authoritarians.
- bdcravens 4y agoSome would argue that teachers and firefighters are far more valuable than STEM workers, and should be paid accordingly.
- pleb_nz 4y agoTeachers definitely deserve more as they can shape the future. Absolutely agree with that one.
- bumby 4y agoCapitalism pays according to how much someone contributes to the economy, not how much they contribute to society. If the inverse were true, we’d see social workers commanding financier salaries.
- spicyramen_ 4y ago[dead]
- danem 4y ago> Even mortgage interest deductions were gutted in the last 4 years. Mortgage interest deduction is a regressive policy that primarily benefits the wealthy. I agree the government is far too wasteful, and cronyism has run rampant, but this the MID is a uniquely bad policy prescription.
- joe_the_user 4y agoWhat is even more troubling to me is how an athlete can make 60 million dollars a year So, there's a multi-billion dollar industry, filled with graft and corruption (as detailed by the article) and you're mad 'cause the people performing are getting a share? Is it a call for a return the 1920s where the athletes got a pittance? You know a vast number of second string players get nothing and are often crippled and even the high paid athletes take a lot of physical damage?
- sn0w_crash 4y ago“TAxeS PaY foR tHe rOaDs and HiGhWayS”
- RickJWagner 4y agoI like where you're going. Glad your comment is being read.