The Height of Absurdity ... Who Needs Things Like the Keystone Pipeline's Approval and the Middle Class High Paying Jobs It will Bring to America? .... Government Has an "Easier" and "Quicker" Way to Create More Jobs and Middle Class Taxpayers ... Union Dues, Income Taxes and Football Playing Employees

By now you've heard about the NLRB ruling that college athletes are employees and entitled to union representation should they so elect to be so represented.


Well, that means paying union dues, but it also means paying income taxes. At least that's the logical outcome of such a silly and ridiculous change in the status of athletes from students to employees.


NU ruling could lead to taxes on scholarships says this:


"Northwestern University football players could one day have to pay federal and state taxes on athletic scholarships following a ruling that the student-athletes are employees of the school, but experts say it is too soon to make them worry.


In a decision issued Wednesday, Peter Sung Ohr, the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board, wrote that players' scholarships are "compensation for the athletic services they perform for the employer throughout the calendar year."


NU athletes have been cleared to proceed in the union organizing process because of the historic vote that is likely to spur similar moves at other college campuses around the country. But the school has already said it plans to appeal the ruling, and it has led to speculation about whether the football players will eventually have to pay taxes just as professors and other employees do.


"I think it’s unlikely anything would happen immediately," said Amy C. McCormick, a professor emeritus at Michigan State University College of Law who specializes in tax law.


McCormick said that under the Internal Revenue Service code, scholarships are exempt from being taxed unless they are compensation for services required as condition for receiving the aid. However, she said, the IRS has not considered athletic scholarships as income.


In order to do so, the IRS, the Department of Treasury or Congress would have to change their position and acknowledge that athletic scholarships are compensation in return for services, McCormick said.


Northwestern, which opposes the idea of unionized athletes, said Wednesday it would appeal the NLRB decision to its Washington, D.C. headquarters. The union question eventually could be resolved in the federal court system.


Athletic scholarships at Northwestern are worth as much as $76,000 per academic year."


Summing Up


Now that's the way to expand the middle class taxpayer base and get more revenues for both labor unions and the government.


No word yet on how the women's basketball or volleyball teams will like the idea.


There's also no word yet on whether the bench warmers will receive less money and therefore incur fewer taxes on income received than will the players that make All-American or even all conference.


Politics sucks! And this absurdity really makes that abundantly clear.


By the way, have you heard about the crooked mayor/politician from Charlotte or the gun bashing/illegal gun running bribe taking politician in California?


And several other political parasites in the news just this week?


Thanks. Bob.