Reuters interviews Rep. Jason Chaffetz about his bid to overturn the National Football League’s decades-old tax-exempt status.
Reports Steve Ginsburg:
Congressman Jason Chaffetz insists his bid to overturn the NFL’s decades-old tax-exempt status has nothing to do with political posturing or electioneering.
And the Utah Republican says his campaign to get rid of the tax break is not motivated by the recent travails of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who has been excoriated for turning a blind eye to domestic abuse by some of his players.
“It’s an issue of basic fairness,” Chaffetz, his palms turned upward, said in an interview. “The National Football League should have to pay taxes like everybody else.”
The teams that comprise the NFL, boasting some $10 billion in annual revenues, pay taxes on their profits, as well as on merchandise and player salaries. But because it’s listed a non-profit trade or industry association, the league’s head office gets a free pass.
Chaffetz, a 47-year-old firebrand who became chairman of the powerful House Oversight Committee in January, wants that to change.
