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MULLIGAN

Golf Champ Complains About High Taxes

But professor says he should be willing to fork over more

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by David Mark

Editor-in-Chief t

Image: AP

Four-time major golf champion Phil Mickelson has apologized after complaining about soaring tax rates for millionaires in his native California. It remains to be seen if that satisfies his critics.

Mickelson said recently told The New York Times he will make "drastic changes" because of federal and California state tax increases. "I happen to be in that zone that has been targeted both federally and by the state and, you know, it doesn't work for me right now. So I'm going to have to make some changes."

In November, California voters approved Proposition 30, the first statewide tax increase since 2004. Mickelson lives in Rancho Santa Fe.

Mickelson now says his comments were a mistake. "Finances and taxes are a personal matter and I should not have made my opinions on them public," Mickelson said in a statement released by his management company. "I apologize to those I have upset or insulted and assure you I intend to not let it happen again."

Mickelson, a 40-time winner on the PGA Tour, has piled up career earnings of more than $67 million and considerably more via corporate endorsements and his golf-course design company.

The golfer's comments had come in for criticism by Syracuse University professor Len Burman. In Forbes, the professor disputed Mickelson's estimates that he would pay about 63 percent annually in taxes, suggesting it were more like 52 percent.

But even at that level Mickelson still shouldn't complain, Burman argues. "Please stop whining and give thanks for being able to earn a fabulous living playing a game and selling golf clubs (even after tax). 99.999% of people would never have that option, no matter how hard they worked on their swing."

Via The New York Times and Forbes.

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Does Phil Mickelson have legitimate gripes about his taxes?

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • u
    Oneness3am_i
    !
    But what I am sure is everyone must make sacrifices. It may cost you a little or it may cost you a lot. One things for sure is. It's gonna cost you.
  • drpeeper
    !
    Anyone whining and jealous he has the talent to become wealthy ----a statement:

    Let me take 60 cents of every dollar you earn. No matter what you earn. See how you feel.
  • u
    Cheenoguy
    !
    Funny you bring up the bible when Jesus said to sell EVERYTHING and give it to the poor. If you want a government based on the teachings of Jesus there will be NO rich people.
  • Brownie
    !
    @Republican5001 I do. I try to help people, as much, as i can and i only make 60000 a year. What will you tell God, when and if he asks you to answer this question you just asked @cheenoguy?
  • View all 12 replies >
  • Roco
    !
    I just don't know. Ever since I have been working, I always felt I paid to much in taxes. Even making minimum wage. But what can one do? If the feds don't take taxes from you, the state, county and city takes what the feds didn't It's always a loss-loss situation for the ordinary worker when it comes to taxes.
  • Tralee
    !
    More than likely, but watch him quietly leave the costly state of CA for a friendlier climate. Florida, Texas or Nevada.
  • u
    jules61
    !
    He should not have to apologize for being raped by the government. i don't care if he made a gazillion dollars, it is his, he made it and like every american, he should be allowed to keep as much as he can. we would want the same. Phil, quit apologizing. It's the federal government once again trying to make a money grab from someone who has earned his own money. 2 years in government and then your lard butt, lazy friggin, creepy greedy selves are out!!!!
  • scotta
    !
    Between California taxes and federal taxes he is paying about .65¢ of every dollar he makes. I would be pissed. Why should you give 50% or more of your money away. It makes a person want to move or move money around to keep greedy hands out of it.
  • jessejaymes
    !
    @scotta What did you think? California weather, beaches, pretty women, movies stars to cavort with, Pebble Beach course, Torrey Pines, PGA West, some of the great golf course of the world and all that comes for free Phil? You could move to Mississippi you know.
  • jessejaymes
    !
    @scotta He is more than welcome to do that. Whining in public when you are estimated to be worth 100 million dollars overall is not very mature. California is he # 1 destination for newly minted millionaires in America and has had a net gain of millionaires or more for the past four decades. Nobody is holding a gun to them. You can have an opinion of California that most you right wingers have but what heppened to states rights? If California wants to raise taxes that's their right. If Phil wants to move that's his right. None of it is any of your business.
  • drpeeper
    !
    @scotta This is why most touring pros live in Florida- No income tax.

    If anyone whines about Phil - like this dweeb professor- Let me take 60% of every dollar you earn. No matter what you earn. See how you feel.
  • View all 14 replies >
  • u
    jules61
    !
    for the life of me, i cannot figure out why the government cannot resist someone elses money???? they tax us to death and refuse to quit spending. our country is a joke, or currency is speeding toward worthlessness, we have no morals, God has been kicked out. Wake up America!!!!
  • u
    DrNickels
    !
    He is only apologizing because he may have lost a sponsor because he had a backbone. So he will lie, take the money, and you watch he will pack up his stuff and leave California to a state that won't rape him financially. As for the Syracuse professor, his argument could be applied to any rapper, basketball, football, or baseball player. It's just jealousy.

    Phil earned my respect with his comment. I hope he takes his golf ball and bag and leaves California and goes to a state that is better for him tax wise. Hit them in the pocketbook. California is the next 3rd world country anyways. Get out while you can Phil.
  • o
    AndrewEvans
    !
    People don't realize that the transfer of wealth isn't what it's supposed to be. It attacks our actual successful entrepreneurs and leaves bank executives with foreign accounts alone. Money leaving the US is the problem and the percentages gained by these new taxes barely take on any of our debt problems.
  • View all 8 replies >
  • methinks
    !
    Why is living the American Dream becoming taboo these days? The guy has talent and made a great life for himself. He has every right to complain.
  • o
    AndrewEvans
    !
    @methinks You're very right. What people don't get is taxing them only delays our debt problems a couple years. In a few years we'll be right back where we were without as many potential business owners to hire people.
  • AtheistStand
    !
    @OhWiseOne I have had a job (a degree job) making over 45,000 a year for years, I dont get food stamps or govt assistance.....now what?

    You have been brainwashed to the point you can understand how vulgar the $67,000,000 million number actually is.

    Or you’re a greedy/take it all no matter whom you hurt/kill/abuse/enslave type person....

    If someone is making 20,000,000 million a year they are taking it from someone.....yeah maybe he has a Nike contract....but how do you think Nike is able to pay him 15-16 million?(just example)

    Cheap labor! People who have socialized medicine! They make the products that this guy wears on his back......

    There are people who work everyday and still cant afford to take their kids to the dentist.........you just lump everyone into food stamp/baby making/ghetto queen/Cadillac driving/drug selling minority. That’s just not true.

    Address the people who work and still fall really short????? Instead of these imaginary takers you dream up.
  • methinks
    !
    @AtheistStand But you liberals stand behind all your fellow libs in Hollywood who make the same kind of money.

    BTW, no one is forcing you to buy those $200 Nike's...the same ones that some people collecting entitlements go out and buy because their favorite NBA player endorses them.

    Are you jealous that Phil has a talent he capitalized on and you are stuck in a dead end job making $45k/year? You have the entitlement mentality and are one of Obama's faithful sheep. Good for you. Now, go out and better yourself so you can get out of that dead end job. BTW, I was making those wages 18 years ago...
  • View all 17 replies >
  • methinks
    !
    What has me LMAO is former French president Sarkozy ready to run away from France because of the 75% tax on millionaires imposed by his socialist successor.

    You make a million and are only allowed to keep 1/4 of it so lazy slugs don't have to work? What the hell? When millionaires start leaving the US, what will you greedy entitlement freaks do then? Last year, 1800 uber rich left.
  • u
    mtkopf
    !
    Or try living on $945/month in va disability benefits bc the GOP just loves to send us to fight wars but then refuses to take care of those that return injured.
    Yeah Phil you have a real tough life. You get paid millions a year for PLAYING A GAME!!!
    You should be thankful for what you do have instead of crying about you wanting to have more. I sure wish I had your tax problem. And to think, out of all the guys on the tour, you were the one I rooted for the most. Not anymore.
  • o
    Republican5001
    !
    @mtkopf then star paying firemen, policemen, garbage men, mechanics and military enlisted white collar salaries. In fact, how about we subject you to further tests for alcohol and tobacco use before you can receive you va pension installment or would you do it voluntarily like when you signed your enlistment papers?
  • PayThatCEO
    !
    @mtkopf
    No one is THANKFUL anymore. Everyone has this attitude that they have no one thank for where they are or what they've accomplished except themselves and they think they deserve far more than what they're really worth.

    Let's say a spacecraft landed and sucked up every pro athlete on the planet. Would life come to a halt? I doubt it. On the other hand, let's say that spacecraft sucked up every garbage collector. Within a month we'd all be drowning in our own filth. What if we lost all our truck drivers. Store shelves would empty in a week. What if doctors disappeared right at the moment you needed your appendix removed? Or mechanics right about the time your car broke down? Or plumbers about the time your toilet overflowed?

    I think athletes, movie stars and musicians are compensated way more than they're worth. Their jobs do nothing for the common good. While some poor electrician's assistant is climbing scaffolding and hanging lights on the movie set, the actor is making more in an hour than that electrician makes in two months.

    I don't deny anyone a decent living, but compensation shouldn't be based solely on self-importance.
  • View all 12 replies >
  • jessejaymes
    !
    When I was at the Newspaper I was told it would 'be a good idea to take up golf for your career". I went out and spent thousands on the best of everything. Shot a 127 first time out after an hour on the driving range. Exactly one year later to the day I shot a 91. Drove my golf cart to the pond by the first tee, took off my spikes, tossed them into the pond. tossed my glove and hat into the pond, tossed my golf bag, clubs, balls and everything else into the pond. Drove the golf cart to the clubhouse bar where the other three were at, walked sock footed through the bar, said "see ya" and never golfed again. Six months later opened my own business.
  • DrFunkenstein
    !
    that poor man, he makes millions of dollars and has to pay a lower percentage in taxes than the caddy that barely can afford a hat. We need Reagan level tax rates back just so the lunatics at Fox News will have to call him a socialist commie pinko.
  • u
    Chromalord
    !
    I find it ironic that the GOP complains about entitlements of those who are destitute but are all for the entitled attitudes of the rich who whine about their tax rates ( when historically they are about the lowest they have ever been) Of the two scenarios I know which one I'd wish to be. ( hint, its not the destitute one)
  • o
    Republican5001
    !
    I wonder if the Syracuse professor is giving his salary back to society since anyone would kill to be a college professor. Or since he didn't earn that , according to Obama, some else made him a college professor at Syracuse.

    Why don't the Syracuse professor give his salary to a firemen, policemen or garbage men, since he is championing a fight for "common" folk.
  • MarkJM
    !
    Only in Kalifornia....Thank God I live in Virginia, where we are allowed to keep more of our hard-earned wealth...I don't blame this guy for saying what he said, I would've said it too, and not apologized for it either...
  • u
    fistv
    !
    If they increased taxes to 80% on everyone those freaking clowns in DC would figure out how to overspend and keep us in debt. There ought to be test for balancing a checkbook before they can run for office.
  • bsking
    !
    Absolutely he has a right to gripe about his taxes. most people don't realize how much that affects the upper class. and because most people live on the bottom rung of the socio-economic ladder, they cannot comprehend the pain felt by anyone in other circumstances than their own. golfers in particular who may have multiple residences all in very high rent districts have a lot of expenditures do Solely to their profession. in many cases it may be necessary for them to own houses in Hawaii . California Arizona Florida . couple that with the expense of a private jet and helicopter, household staff caddies drivers limousines and the occasional traveling companion.
    These people have an obligation due to their shows in profession to live and more lavish lifestyle then the average worker. I can sympathize with Phil and I don't think you should a retracted his remarks I think you should have moved permanently to 1 of his Florida residences . ;-)
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