Tax exempt status. Our phone lines you can also join in on facebook and social media. You can also email us at journal cspan. Org. Lets take a look at the headlines from the super bowl cities. Post denver and this from the Seattle Times from the Richmond Times dispatch you login to espn. Com, there is a story about the tax exempt status for the nfl. Tom coburn has proposed an amendment to the marketplace fairness act that would end the nfls exemption from Tax Exemption. Before you start comparing the nfl to the american red cross, it is important to know why it is a taxexempt organization. It is classified as a trade or that is organization under the 501 c six code. Angus king spoke about why he wanted to change this. [video clip] this is ridiculous on the first place. It is an organization designed brand. Ote a particular i love going to games, i love watching the games. After this bill i may have to go to nfl games under the witness protection program. This isnt about the teams. They are their own entities, they pay taxes. This is about the league office, which makes 181 million per year and is a taxexempt. Ensure your listeners dont think of the girl scouts and the red cross and the Cancer Society as the same category of the nfl. It is a quirk of the law that ought to be fix. They fall under the 501 c 6 status. What type of business it is it reserved for . It is designed for trade associations or manufacturers. Are designed to promote and work with and coordinate the activities of a wide range of in a particular industry. They represent the nfl teams. It is a brand. It is not a general trade association. That is what i dont think it is appropriate. Major League Baseball dozens avail itself of this provision. Dozens avail itself of this provision. L itself of this provision. Its just most people i talk youreir reaction is, kidding i never knew that. Nonprofits payny their bosses 29 million per year . What would your lesson your legislation do . This organization like that has revenues of more than 10 million per year would not be exempt, they would be a taxpaying entity like everyone else. We would exempt the smaller true trade organizations. But we would capture people like nhl andand the particularly the nfl. That is what the bill would do. I also think it is important to raise peoples consciousness of the tax codes. I think we need to look at the whole thing. This is a good this is as good a place to start as i can think of. The question, should the nfl be taxexempt . You can join in on the conversation. The phone lines are you can send us an email or tweet at cspanwj. Will be focusing on super bowl sunday and politics. Good morning. On todays sunday tv talk shows, the topics include reaction to the president s state of the Union Address, politics, and todays big Football Game. You can hear a rebroadcast of the program on cspan radio beginning at noon eastern with. 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Should the nfl be taxexempt . This story focusing on jason shave its, who propose legislation that would strip the his annualtus and revenues have soared about nine billion dollars. Also the hill points out that the National Basketball league and major League Baseball are not taxexempt. Mlb gave up its tax exempt status in 2007 in part to keep its salary information private. This is from one of our tweets. Players should not have to pay new jersey state income taxes if they do not live in new jersey. Elmer is joining us from albuquerque new mexico. Caller i cant think why the nfl, as much as i love football, are taxexempt when there are so many other organizations that try to get taxexempt to help other people and cannot get taxexempt. For the life of me i cannot think of why the nfl is among those. Host what should lawmakers be looking at . I would say i would change the tax code and do the same for tax and oil. Make them pay their fair share of taxes. Thank you very much. Give us a call or send us a tweet. We were joined last fall on cspans q and a program. [video clip] your viewers probably remember the act that bans businesses from forming unified fronts and sports leagues do that. They got an antitrust exemption from the Supreme Court in 1922. Congress does not directly control that. Football got an antitrust exemption directly from congress as legislation in 1966. At that time there were two leagues, the old afl and the old nfl. The antitrust exemption allowed them to merge and to negotiate with Television Networks as one single entity. Nfl was sothe successful and popular was it was exempt from the antitrust law. Imagine what ample what apple would pay to be exempt. Why does congress do that . I love the sport and i go to way too many Football Games. I think you can argue the antitrust exemption was good for football as a sport. It allowed the league to distribute evenly and ensure quality of competition and common draft. The games are much better games than they would be without an antitrust exemption. Maybe you can rationalize it on those grounds. Congress got essentially nothing from the nfl in return. Ive said congress should revoke the exemption or if you want to see what the nfl is willing to pay for. Gregg easterbrook on his book, the king of sports. Our focus is the nfl status for being tax exempt. We will get more of your calls. Senators and activists attack the nfls exemption. Liberal activists and one of the most conservative members of karma of Congress Found a common cause, trying to strip the nfl and several other sports organizations from their exemption from paying federal taxes. It would bar sports legal with annual revenue of more than 10 million to claim taxexempt status. More than 3000 people have signed on to change. Org, a petition drive challenging their and challenging the nfls status. Church property and far lamb and farmland should also be taxed. Good morning. Morning. Ood i think they should lose their exemption. The amount of money should be directed toward the national debt. Next his nick from fairview, tennessee. Caller thank you for taking my call. They have the dodd frank for banking. And put ant over obamacare concept. And just dohing up that with farmland, do that with to do since socialism is a religion it will ,e created by the government whether they be republican or democrat. The pretax is helping. Well just all keep reverting back and will be like the soviet union in the 1930s. Should the irs on them, 6 00 p. M. Essay on them, six the epa sic the irs on them, sic the epa on them. Are pushing for control things. Have a good day. Says this is from jim who ash who says peter riley has this piece from forbes. Com, taking a contrarian point of view, saying the flap over the nfl Tax Exemption seems silly. He points out, as we have been discussing, senators angus king and tom coburn cosponsoring a bill that would strip the nfl from its tax exempt status. In the finding sections, it notes the National Football league, the National Hockey and thethe pga tour, Ladies Professional Golf Association are all taxexempt organizations. That itley points out would be a big deal for an organization that handles billions of dollars to lose its exempt status. When you look at the numbers you get a different story. This is Available Online at forbes. Com if you want to review the numbers. Larry is up on the phone lines next. Good morning. Caller good morning. The nfl should definitely not be taxexempt. They should be the ones to pay the taxes. I say definitely not, they should not be taxexempt. Host jan has this point is joining us from pennsylvania, welcome to the program. Emocrats line caller the nfl, they are evil. All most all of these equipments, the amenities these thingsl of are made in slave labor, thailand and bangladesh. Come over here and they seldom for an enormous amount of money, 150 per jersey. Of course they should be taxed. They want taxpayer money to build stadiums. From a Virginian Texan this essay is Available Online from motherjones. Com. He points out Roger Goodell wants to triple the leagues 225 billion by 2027. Leagues dollars to 25 billion by 2027. Root strikers want to put an end to the nfls free ride. Here is more from our conversation with senator angus king on Roger Goodell, who is the nfl commissioner who will be appearing on Fox News Sunday, i can be heard on cspan radio this afternoon. That can be heard on cspan radio this afternoon. [video clip] salarycommissioners indicates this is not a streetbased Nonprofit Organization such as the girl scouts or the american Cancer Society. A small trade association that serves a whole industry rather than a particular brand. This is the National Football league. It has a particular number of members and it does include football all across the country and other areas. Think this is i something that needs fixing. What is the likelihood we can get it done . I havent heard back. I mentioned this to my colleagues. It is astonishing this is taxexempt. Whiche some background, is exactly what talk to cockburn and i did earlier this week. Coburn and i did earlier this week. A look at the New York Times sunday magazine, focusing on a different aspect of the big game. From cq weekly, washington on ice is the cover story. Adding there is no saw no thought insight. No thaw in sight. Tell us what you think about this question, should the nfl be taxexempt . We welcome our listeners on cspan radio, heard coasttocoast on xm channel 120. Richard from maryland, good morning, independent line. Caller my comment on this issue business, all regardless of entertainment or anything like occur thing they they incur in the way of costs is called overhead and is passed on to the in the Sticker Price or to people who are watching it. Has been known through history that labor gets erased and the business gets running. , he raisesular job his price to compensate for the raise. This thing goes back and forth and back and forth. I think they should be taxed. Cost that money they are used to having is going to be compensated for raising ticket prices to the public. Then of course the public will pay, which they always do. That is my comment. If you look at the tax 501 c 6 s a organization, reserved for business leagues. In 2011 it had 255. 3 million in revenue. Million paid by teams in 2011. At 333nses were listed million, and clipping nearly 108 million in salaries. The nfl commissioner roger just 30 million. The situation in california, the headline, the severe drought. Fearing the worst. Companye some photographs from the a section of the New York Times. Say the punishing drought that has swept california is now threatening the states ranking water supply with no sign of rain. 17 Rural Communities are providing water. That is front page of the New York Times. Next is richard joining us from laurel, maryland. Good morning. The question is do you think the nfl should be a tax exempt status . With angus king, an independent of maine. He says yes it should be taxexempt. There is this story from espn. Com. We are also getting your tweets. This is from gregory who says i will go back and read to you what the status is for the nfl. The status is reserved for business leagues and for chambers of commerce paid in 2011 the nfl had 255 million in revenue and 333 million in expenses. Good morning, where are you calling from . Caller i am calling from massachusetts. I wanted to talk about the drought in california. I think god is punishing the immorality of california. Host good morning, where are you calling from . Caller i am calling from florida. They should be taxed. Upset by some of the calls i have been hearing. They are a money making machine. There are a lot of organizations that are taxexempt that should not be. There are a lot of individuals who claim to be nonprofit. Of when you look at these astronomical salaries that these yeah, ittting should go to the national debt. We help with corporate tax, we give people Tax Exemption, and the middle class gets the shaft. Of i am very upset. I think they should be should not have Tax Exemption. Host another tweet from the New York Times sports section, there is a look at the town in the middle between Seattle Washington and denver colorado. Arco, id co it is aho. Postrom the washington charles is joining us from dallas, texas on the democrat line. They should be taxed. It is ridiculous. A lot of organizations that are smaller [indiscernible] host we change it once a month. A we but the democrats on we put the democrats on top once a month and then switch it. He further explained the connection between congress and the nfl. [video clip] what is the motivation to make a special case on some sports team . , i think congress is cold by alled by is c football. There is so much money involved. ,he book subsidies for both taxexempt shins, and so on. You think some populist champion would stand up and say i love football to but lets make them pay their own way. It does not happen. I think congress is culled. They also provide photo ops. Members of Congress Love to have their pictures taken sitting in the owners box of the hometown teams. I think that is why we do not see a populist Champion Rise up and demand i want the nfl to always exist and play great games but i want them to stop using public subsidies and show more concern with safety. Not just for their own players but for the example they set for high school boys. With the entire interview Ray Easterbrook is available on our website. Oceanside, california, independent line, good morning. Caller they are selling millions of jerseys, charging 150 per jersey. There are people here who are illegal aliens. All you People Get Ready for all the trials, because theyre coming your way. Later, after cspans washington journal, the cspans Newsmakers Program. Chair ofpeak with the the Senate Agriculture committee as lawmakers move ahead on the billville, on the farm , which passed the house this week. Here is more from cspans Newsmakers Program. [video clip] we are going to be in a situation where we are not going to be able to pay our bills. Shame on us, as america, if that is going to be the case. Responsible in their own family for doing that. A country. Do that as to me it is very simple. Constitutional requirements constitution requires us to do it. We can negotiate a lot of things. I have been negotiating for three years on agriculture and food policy. When it comes time to pay the bills, i think it is our responsibility to pay the bills. Could you tolerate some upsets . We need to negotiate paying our bills. Host host henry waxman from los angeles is leaving at the end of this year and was first elected in 1974. Natasha is joining us from troy, michigan on the republican line on whether the nfl should be taxexempt. Caller absolutely not. I was just in the process of writing you a letter. Last week on public radio i came in on the tail end of it someone has written a book on all the things that all these ,eam owners and stadium owners the brakes that they get on their taxes that most of them dont pay. I think it is a travesty when someone works at mcdonalds and has to pay taxes on the first and peopleearn designate nonprofits so they dont have to pay taxes and can hide money overseas. In china, things are made and they bring them here but they dont pay taxes because they leave the money offshore. The poor people are the ones that ultimately are the ones that suffer. Example, our last republican president ial candidate had money offshore and in different banks outside the country. Nobody made a big deal out of it but you have some poor wealth some poor welfare mother who happens to make a mistake or collects money one day longer than she should have in its national travesty. Host thank you for the call. This is what the website looks like, focusing on the nfl. It is called the end of the corruption in washington. Rob is joining us next from philadelphia, good morning. Caller good morning. I want everyone to know that every time they need a new stadium, just what, people, they use your tax dollars to build the stadium. This is absolutely ridiculous. Exemptt, it will be tax on the people working in the stadium, the people slipping the burgers