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Should Congress revoke the NFL's tax exempt status?

Should NFL be required to pay Federal taxes?

  • Yes (explain)

    Votes: 35 76.1%

  • No (explain)

    Votes: 6 13.0%

  • Other (explain)

    Votes: 5 10.9%
  • Total voters
    46
rathi said:
So its okay not pay taxes as long as its "only" on 200 million?
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Teams paid taxes on that 200m when they earned it. Paying taxes again on that 200m is stupid, because those are dues paid to a non-profit (which does NOT make a profit).


Does your chess club do multi-billion dollar royalty licensing? The NFL is not a chess club, they are a business and should be treated as such.
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Licensing profits go to the teams. The NFL org does not make any profit. It collects dues from teams, who have already paid taxes on that money.
 
ecofarm said:
Teams paid taxes on that 200m when they earned it. Paying taxes again on that 200m is stupid, because those are dues paid to a non-profit (which does NOT make a profit).
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Which is exactly the problem. The NFL is not a non-profit in practice so its unfair that the teams get to write off money under false pretenses.

Licensing profits go to the teams. The NFL org does not make any profit. It collects dues from teams, who have already paid taxes on that money.
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The point of being a non-profit is to serve some kind of community purpose. Its not for regular businesses to take their net earnings, hand them over to executives and declare "oops we didn't make a profit so we don't pay taxes".

I like the fact you haven't address the fact that the NBA and other sporting leagues don't get the same exemptions. Why is the NFL different?
 
rathi said:
Which is exactly the problem. The NFL is not a non-profit in practice so its unfair that the teams get to write off money under false pretenses.

The point of being a non-profit is to serve some kind of community purpose. Its not for regular businesses to take their net earnings, hand them over to executives and declare "oops we didn't make a profit so we don't pay taxes".
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So we should tax union dues as union profits?


I like the fact you haven't address the fact that the NBA and other sporting leagues don't get the same exemptions. Why is the NFL different?
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You're presuming that just because they are a sport that they operate the same.
 
ecofarm said:
So we should tax union dues as union profits?
.
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The NFL isn't a union.

You're presuming that just because they are a sport that they operate the same.
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If they aren't the same, why can't you point out the differences?
 
rathi said:
The NFL isn't a union.
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It is a non-profit organization that serves the admin needs of the teams. It is funded by the teams and does not make any profit.

Look, you already claimed that the NFL org make billions, so you obviously have no clue what you're talking about.

If they aren't the same, why can't you point out the differences?
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You made the claim.
 
ecofarm said:
It is a non-profit organization that serves the admin needs of the teams. [/B]
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Catering exclusively to the business needs of specific for profit organizations is not something a non-profit organization is allowed to do.

It is funded by the teams and does not make any profit.
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Any idiots can spend money to avoid making a profit. What defines a non-profit is serving some kind of useful societal function that justifies not paying taxes. The NFL doesn't meet that standard.


You made the claim.
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The NFL and the NBA both engage in the same kind of profit seeking business. They do exclusive deals with specific teams to make money by generating ticket sales, advertising revenue and IP licensing. The goals and methods of both organizations are nearly identical other than the sport played. The only difference is the NBA doesn't try and lie about the fact they are a for profit business.
 
When you speak of billions of dollars, you are referring to the money made by teams - which is taxed. 6m per team is not taxed because it is dues paid to a non-profit organization. Even if the NFL lost tax-exempt status, only that 6m per team would be open to new taxes.
 
Absolutely we should, they should never qualify as a non-profit organization because they make nothing but profit!
 
ecofarm said:
When you speak of billions of dollars, you are referring to the money made by teams - which is taxed. 6m per team is not taxed because it is dues paid to a non-profit organization. Even if the NFL lost tax-exempt status, only that 6m per team would be open to new taxes.
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That's still $192 million taxable dollars across the NFL, absolutely it ought to be taxed.
 
Cephus said:
That's still $192 million taxable dollars across the NFL, absolutely it ought to be taxed.
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Why? It is dues to a non-profit. The NFL org does not make any money, it merely spends the dues received.

At least you seem to realize that we're not talking about billions.
 
ecofarm said:
Why? It is dues to a non-profit. The NFL org does not make any money, it merely spends the dues received.

At least you seem to realize that we're not talking about billions.
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No, we're not, that's $6 million per team for 32 teams, it's simple math. Still, the NFL doesn't really deserve to be a non-profit organization, they do no charitable work, there's no point whatsoever to them not paying taxes, no matter how "small" the amount is. I'd say the same if they were only making $1.97. Everyone, except for direct charities, ought to pay taxes.
 
Cephus said:
No, we're not, that's $6 million per team for 32 teams, it's simple math. Still, the NFL doesn't really deserve to be a non-profit organization, they do no charitable work, there's no point whatsoever to them not paying taxes, no matter how "small" the amount is. I'd say the same if they were only making $1.97. Everyone, except for direct charities, ought to pay taxes.
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Hah

This article discusses issues relating to the tax-exempt status under IRC 501(c)(6) of business leagues, chambers of commerce, boards of trade, and similar organizations. As of March 31, 2002, there were 71,032 organizations recognized as tax-exempt under IRC 501(c)(6).
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http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopick03.pdf
 
radcen said:
It's not. But, based on your last two responses, I now know that casual communication is not your strong suit. (Seriously, most people would have gotten that.) Duly noted.
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Then don't put it forward as the reason they're not a non-profit.
 
Why are some insisting on hammering away at what the current status and laws are? The very premise of the thread acknowledges that. The question is: Should changes be made?
 
radcen said:
Yes, I overestimated and gave credit where it wasn't warranted. I'll try to not make that mistake again. :roll:
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I think you stated how you felt about the issue. The problem is that how you feel and the reality of the situation are different. I understand that it can be hard to grasp a large institution like the NFL being non-profit but they are.
 
radcen said:
Why are some insisting on hammering away at what the current status and laws are? The very premise of the thread acknowledges that. The question is: Should changes be made?
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Taxing the NFL will only serve to reduce the amount of money it can put towards the game. Why tax it?
 
Republic Now! said:
Taxing the NFL will only serve to reduce the amount of money it can put towards the game. Why tax it?
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That argument could be made for any business, non-profit or for-profit.

Extend it to its logical conclusion, that argument also makes the point for taxing the NFL and not taxing things like humanitarian charities.
 
radcen said:
Why are some insisting on hammering away at what the current status and laws are? The very premise of the thread acknowledges that. The question is: Should changes be made?
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Here's the funny part... no one ever mentions the other 73,000 organizations. Why? Because idiots will believe that none of the 9b in profit of NFL teams is taxed. These ignorant people take up the flag declaring billions of dollars being available. After they realize that it's only 200m, and that the NFL admin is a non-profit, they devolve into purely emotional tripe about how the rich should share with everyone and current laws are unjust.

The whole point of this argument is to rile up ignorant rabble for a good ole money grab, which turns out to be nothing anyway. It's pathetic. It happens every couple years. Most people don't fall for it twice.
 
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radcen said:
That argument could be made for any business, non-profit or for-profit.

Extend it to its logical conclusion, that argument also makes the point for taxing the NFL and not taxing things like humanitarian charities.
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Good point. Why do we do it for any business? We merely sap economic potential. Any income being taken home is taxed through income taxes anyways.
 
CLAX1911 said:
It is a for profit business. So it should be taxed just the same as any other.
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The NFL org does not make any profit. It spends dues from the teams who do, in fact, pay taxes on their revenue.
 
Republic Now! said:
Good point. Why do we do it for any business? We merely sap economic potential. Any income being taken home is taxed through income taxes anyways.
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I would be more open to a discussion regarding taxes in general, as in tax all or don't tax at all, than I am about the NFL being a non-profit and deserving the exemption when it's clear that the whole point behind professional sports is to make money.
 
radcen said:
I would be more open to a discussion regarding taxes in general, as in tax all or don't tax at all, than I am about the NFL being a non-profit and deserving the exemption when it's clear that the whole point behind professional sports is to make money.
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By the law, the NFL is a non-profit because they merely act as a league of the teams who are each individual businesses. For what I think should be done, I don't think business should pay taxes period, including the NFL.
 
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