ATLANTA — A Georgia lawmaker wants to make sure our colleges and universities don’t lose more players to colleges in other states.
Alpharetta state Sen. Brandon Beach is proposing exempting the NIL money from state income tax.
But a Democratic lawmaker and former UGA All-American thinks there should be some safeguards for those athletes.
UGA fans are still lamenting losing their starting quarterback Carson Beck to the University of Miami.
Miami arranged a sweet name, image, likeness, or NIL deal, to lure Beck to South Florida.
Beach doesn’t want to lose any other five-star college athletes.
“Listen, we’re competing against Tennessee, Texas and Florida that do not have a state income tax,” Beach said.
Beach came up with a plan that would exempt any NIL money from state income tax. That way, he thinks, schools like Georgia and Georgia Tech can better compete for top-notch athletes against schools in states that have no income tax.
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“We need to make sure we have a competitive playing field for Kirby Smart and Brett Keys to make sure Georgia Tech, Georgia, all our universities have that even playing field,” Beach said.
Stockbridge Democratic lawmaker Demetrius Douglas is kind of an expert on all this. He’s a former UGA All-American from the 1980s.
He’s OK with tax-exempting NIL money, but only if the athlete puts that money in a fund and doesn’t touch it until they leave school.
Otherwise, he thinks it should be taxable income. That way, they won’t spend through their money too quickly.
“If the kid doesn’t touch the money, if he puts it into a fund or an IRA, or a Roth, but if they touch the money, then they have to be taxed on it,” Douglas said.
Beach thinks he can get the bill passed to keep Georgia schools competitive in the competition for top talent.
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