Unassigned

Punishing the Winner? Somehow, Sam Darnold Has to Pay California $14,000 For Winning the Super Bowl

Aaron Walker
Aaron Walker  |  3:15 PM on February 10, 2026

The Beatles once sang of the Taxman that ‘…you’re working for no one but me.’ And it seems to be true, in the case of winning Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold. Indeed, he has to pay them for the privilege:

Advertisement

So, do the math: That’s $188,000-$202,000 = -$14,000, meaning he would owe California $14,000 more than he won.

And the other shocking thing is this is being pointed out by the Washington Post, and they think it’s a bad thing. But it’s less shocking when you see it is an unsigned editorial. From the piece:

The Golden State’s top income tax rate of 13.3 percent is the highest in the country. Players on the winning team of Sunday’s game in Santa Clara will receive an extra $188,000 each, and players on the losing team are getting $113,000. Paying taxes on that may be no big deal for pro athletes, but they are also required to pay taxes based on the number of ‘duty days’ they spend working in-state. For the Super Bowl, that’s usually about 10 days.

California calculates the number of days worked in the state against the value of a player’s base salary and bonus. Because of the wide range of payouts, tax bills diverge widely. Policy analyst Jared Walczak created a calculator to see how different players will be taxed.

…

Victorious Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold has a California tax bill of at least $202,102, which is bigger than the default victory bonus. On top of that, his contract included an additional $4 million in bonuses to drive his tax bill even higher.

Two years ago, when the Super Bowl was in Nevada, players didn’t need to worry about this because the Silver State has no income tax. And when the Raiders moved from Oakland to Las Vegas a few years before that, every player got a de facto pay hike.

Pro athletes pay accountants to figure out their taxes, but the same laws also apply to staffers who travel with the team and earn middle-class salaries. They get nickeled-and-dimed by different tax collectors through the regular season.

…

Legislation introduced in Congress would establish a 30-day threshold for every state, a sensible policy that would make tax compliance easier for everyone, not just NFL stars. Working for just a few days in another state — whether you’re attending a business meeting, installing a roof or defeating the New England Patriots — should not generate another tax bill.

Recommended

'Just a Decision to Steal': FL Teachers Union Execs Sentenced to Prison After Fleecing Members
justmindy
Advertisement

We would go further than that. Presumably, the state of Washington will also tax the Seahawks for any Super Bowl winnings—meaning double taxation on the same income. That should be prohibited. 

(Update: Thanks to 'Insufficiently Caffeinated' in the comments who pointed out that Washington (the state) does not have an income tax. We hate to see how sharp he is if he is sufficiently caffeinated...)

A long time ago, we read ‘Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men: A History of the American Civil War’ by Jeffrey Hummel, which described slavery in monetary terms like this (paraphrase):

Imagine that every day you worked, you got paid at the end of the day, in cash. But also imagine that every day, five seconds after you received that pay, someone would stick you up and take that money, and there was nothing you could do to stop it.

That was slavery, for the slave, from a purely economic point of view, and it explained much of the behavior slaves would engage in. For instance, slaves had a reputation for being ‘lazy,’ but just how hard would you work if you knew you couldn’t keep the value of your labor? This was part of an overall strategy referred to as ‘fooling old master’ where the slaves would intentionally slow work down, ‘accidentally’ break tools, and engage in other activities designed to allow them to work less, much like the old Soviet tradition of ‘you pretend to pay us, we pretend to work’—which makes sense, because both systems involve forcing people to work against their will at jobs they didn’t choose.

Advertisement

(Of course, there was much more to the damage of slavery than economics, but it is sometimes useful to look at certain factors in isolation.)

Now, we aren’t saying that taxation is slavery, even when it is as extreme as this if only because there is the critical element of choice. But we have long said that it is straight up immoral for anyone to pay more than 50% of his income in total taxes to the government: Because no person should work for the government for more than half the year.

Every relevant sports organization should demand a tax exemption when a California city lobbies to hold their event in their state.

California backing the heck off makes more sense.

We detect sarcasm.

With a blow-dried weirdo at the top.

Indeed, you might have noticed that they referenced a tax calculating tool by Jared Walczak. Well, here he is promoting his ‘Super Bowl Jock Tax Calculator:’

Advertisement

Finally:

We swear, a huge part of the Democratic appeal is weaponized jealousy. Yes, we are sure that Darnold will still come out ahead with all the endorsements, etc. rolling in. But it’s still an outrage, even when it happens to a person who is rich.

This author never resents a person for having more, even when we wish we had just as much. And we are that much happier for it.

RELATED: Legal Action Launched to Stop Puberty Blocker Experiment ON CHILDREN in the United Kingdom

Horror Show in Maryland: Police Neglect of a Homeless Camp Might Lead to Residents Being Evicted

DHS Lawyer Who Asked To Be Held in Contempt Leaves Minnesota Detail

Olympic ‘Women’s’ Boxing ‘Champion’ Imane Khelif Admits the Obvious And Conservatives Take a Victory Lap

One ‘Weird Trick’ That Would Instantly Undermine the Political Power of Illegal Immigrants (and Democrats)

Advertisement

BREAKING: An NYT Interview With Biden Just Undermined Thousands of His Late Pardons (A Deep Dive)