So in the last couple of days there has been a lot of buzz about golfer, Phil Mickelson’s threat to leave California because of our tax rate.
He casually claimed that his tax rates will be somewhere close to 63% percent.
I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he was probably just blowing off steam, so he just pulled that magic number, 63, out of his ass. We all do that in casual conversation.
I am completely fine with it. I am also completely fine with him bitching about his taxes. It’s his right to do so, and he can move where ever he’d like. He’s got plenty of money to do it.
But what I CANNOT stand is how every freaking news outlet is repeating his 63% quote like it’s the truth.
This really pisses me off because there is no way in hell he is paying 63% tax. No one pays 63% tax, unless you have the most incompetent accountant on earth. In fact, most of the analyst I’ve read put the number at least 10 points lower than that.
But freak, it really irritates me that anyone can just go on a soapbox, say some random bullshit, and it will be parroted across the national media like it’s scientific fact.