By Billy House
The owner’s box could soon be less opulent.
A lucrative tax break that sports team owners can use to shelter billions of dollars of income would be halved in value under House Republicans’ draft legislation to enact Donald Trump’s signature tax plan.
The tax break came under fire after a 2021 ProPublica investigation based on leaked returns showed the shelter helped billionaire team owners pay lower effective tax rates than their players or even concession stand workers. Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, a former Microsoft Corp. chief executive officer, used paper losses from his stake in the team to save about $140 million on his taxes over five years, ProPublica found.
The bill itself is the subject of heated negotiations going into the weekend, after the House Budget Committee on Friday failed to advance the legislation over hard-line conservatives’ cost concerns.
The boon for franchise owners has its origins in sweeping tax legislation passed in 2004 under President George W. Bush, a former part-owner of the Texas Rangers major league baseball team.
Trump has a tortured history with sports team ownership that includes failed attempts to acquire the Buffalo Bills and then-Baltimore Colts football teams. He owned a team in the defunct USFL and played a key role in the league’s battle with the National Football League.
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