Athletes donate because it's a tax write-off
Fact: All pro athletes first joining the ranks -- pick your sport -- are told first off to establish a charity. It's a tax write-off you have to have to save money. Let Uncle Sam take $400,000 of your money, or start your own charity and he only gets $100,000. It all depends on your pay grade.
Plus, you never have to pay for gasoline again and there's a lot of free groceries and other things you can chalk up to costs for running the charity. And an even bigger plus, you can keep the wife happy by giving her no-good brother a job title -- say, transportation manager -- and a $36,000 per year salary as one of the charity officers.
Even Pacman Jones had a charity. You think he would have done it on his own if the primary beneficiary wasn't him?
Of course, the money that actually does go to charity goes to a good cause. I mean, isn't that what charity is all about? It's not as much about being charitable, however, as it is about using good business sense.
The media goes right along with it. How many times will we hear repeated how wonderful Steve McNair was with all his charity work. Or, how the newest player is starting his own charity. We have no real idea how wonderful they would be until it is really their money they are donating.
The fact is this: the charity racket that creates such "community-minded" athletes to "give back" is a tax dodge.
The athletes are getting money from you and me and trading it around in paperwork to give themselves a tax write-off that translates to more money for them. Athletes can benefit long after they are retired from their respective sport. Those links and money pipelines they have established can be their main source of income as they keep the charity racket going as long as possible. For those with no other skills, it can be their sole source of livelihood.
It's not just athletes, either. It's celebrities from all ilks who find themselves in a high income position.
How long must this charade go on? I, for one, am weary of the misreporting by the media and the overall subterfuge.
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