When the big, beautiful bill left the House for the Senate, it contained a provision that would have created anything but a tax cut for the mega-wealthy. By the time the final bill was signed into law, the provision that would have harmed sports owners was not included.
We’re told that the Senate’s version eliminated the wrinkle that would have removed the ability of sports-league owners to write off the entire value of “intangible assets” (like player contracts and media-rights deals) over 15 years, and that the House did not reinsert it.
The change would have reduced the ability to write off intangible assets from 100 percent to 50 percent.
As previously explained by the New York Times, the tax break can equate to “hundreds of millions of dollars,” because intangible assets “make up the bulk of a team’s worth.”
The Times reported that some owners believe the change to the tax laws “feels punitive,” with President Trump seeking leverage over NFL owners.
“The president is committed to ensuring that sports teams overcharging ticketholders do not receive favorable tax treatment,” White House spokesman Harrison Fields told the Times in a statement issued in late May. “His focus is on fairness for fans, not team ownership.”
Why would the President want to stick it to NFL owners? Consider what Stephen A. Smith said last month on The Daily Show.
“In 2014, he wanted to purchase the NFL’s Buffalo Bills,” Smith told Jon Stewart on June 9. “The price tag was $1.4 billion. . . . My sources tell me he had $1.1 [billion]. . . . He literally called me in 2014 and he said, ‘Stephen, I’m going to tell you this right now’ — and this is a quote — ‘if them mutherfuckers get in my way, I’m gonna get them all back. I’m gonna run for president.’ Those are his exact words.”
His effort to “get them all back” through the big, beautiful bill didn’t work. We have a feeling it won’t make him stop trying.