It will come as no surprise to readers who are also sports fans that Cleveland has lost again—this time, at the Supreme Court.
Dedicated readers will remember that The Scrapbook actively rooted against the town in a lawsuit filed by two former NFL players who disputed how the city collected its “Jock Tax”—an income tax on athletes (and other high-income entertainers). Cleveland’s method assumed players earn their income according to the number of games played, rather than also counting “duty days”—namely practices—as most cities do. In a 16-game NFL season, 1 game in Cleveland means the city would tax the player on 1/16 of his NFL income. Of course, this method yields higher revenues for Cleveland.
Cleveland won the first round at the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals, but that board lacked the authority to determine the constitutionality of the tax. The plaintiffs, former Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday and former Chicago Bear linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer, appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, where they won in a unanimous ruling. Their collective refund? A paltry $8,356.
Still, this was a decidedly unpaltry victory for the players’ union, since it undercut Cleveland’s draconian tax scheme as applied to all professional athletes. So Cleveland orchestrated a legal drive to take the challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court. And like the Browns of the late 1980s, the city couldn’t get the ball across the goal line, fumbling as time was running out: The Supreme Court has declined to hear their case.
With the matter settled, Cleveland stands to lose $1 million a year in tax revenue from professional athletes. At least they still have a team.
