While the NFL is trying to stay out of the headlines following its handling of domestic abuse charges among some of its star players, Sen. Tom Coburn is pushing to keep the National Football League in the spotlight for a different reason.
Along with the PGA, NHL and a number of other professional sports leagues, the NFL doesn’t pay taxes on its billions in yearly revenue. Individual teams and owners do pay taxes, but not the league.
“The question Americans ought to ask is why? Who cut that deal?” Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, told “The Fine Print.” “And why should the very wealthy team owners through their league office not pay taxes, which means all the rest of us pay more taxes.”
It’s all thanks to a 1966 tax law amendment that allows sports leagues to identify as tax-exempt nonprofit organizations. Coburn introduced a bill last year that would take away the tax-exempt status for any sports league making over $10 million in annual revenues. The bottom line, he argues, is that “real charities ought to get a tax-exempt [status], non-charities shouldn't.”
Though the bill only requires a simple change to the complicated federal tax code, Coburn’s proposal hasn’t been able to garner much attention on Capitol Hill -- that is, until the NFL found itself in the spotlight.
Coburn attributes some of new support to politicians who are only now attracted to the issue because of its newfound popularity. But he said “the whole political process” is the bigger problem.
“Shouldn't we have people who are representing the people of this country stand up and try to make the best judgments overall not from a political standpoint but from a policy standpoint?” Coburn asked. “And I'd say letting the pro sports leagues having $110 million of your money, which means they're not paying it, which means poor Americans are … is a reverse Robin Hood deal.”
Even with the fresh interest in the issue, Coburn said he doesn't expect Congress to muster the political will to actually strip sports leagues of the tax-exempt status anytime soon.
“The reason people don't want to address that is the people who own these teams are pretty powerful players, and if you don't want to irritate them -- it's cowardice,” Coburn said. “Don't take on something you don't have to because your political career is more important than fixing things that are wrong with the country.”
