(The Tennessean) The NBA, the NHL and the Tennessee legislature may all be in their off-seasons, but they each took time Thursday to take up a subject that never takes a vacation — money.
Representatives for the Memphis Grizzlies, the National Basketball Players Association and the National Hockey League Players’ Association appeared at a hearing in Legislative Plaza on Tennessee’s “jock tax,” a surcharge of $2,500 per game levied on pro basketball and hockey players.
The state’s jock tax has become a widespread gripe among NBA and NHL players, in part because the proceeds go to team owners. They also say the tax — by some measures, the highest in the U.S. or Canada — means players at the bottom of their league’s pay scale wind up paying more in taxes than they receive in wages for playing in Tennessee.
