Former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck (15) throws the ball during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Mississippi on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, in Oxford, Miss. Mississippi won 28-10. (AP Photo/Randy J. Williams)
Georgia lawmakers want to eliminate state taxes on college athletes who are getting paid for their name, image and likeness to attract more student-athletes to the state.
“If you are at a Georgia university and you earn your NIL, you would not pay state income tax during that four-year period,”said Republican state Sen. Brandon Beach, the bill’s main author.
“College sports, they generate millions of dollars,” he adds. “You go to Athens on a Saturday, and you look at all the tailgating of food and beer and all the money being spent on hotel rooms, dinners and so on. It’s an economic engine.”
The University of Georgia Bulldogs football team and fans celebrates their national championship in January 2023 in Athens, Georgia. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Georgia has a flat 5.39% individual income tax. Beach, who hopes to hold a hearing and vote for the bill soon, argues that eliminating this could help recruit athletes away from states like Texas and Florida, which have no income tax.
“If you want to fill up the stadium … you’ve got to put a competitive product on the field,” the senator noted. “And that’s what I’m trying to make sure that we have the five-star athletes to be competitive and win championships.”
Last September, Gov. Brian Kemp signed an executive order that allows schools to pay athletes for their name, image and likeness.
“You go to Athens on a Saturday, and you look at all the tailgating of food and beer and all the money being spent on hotel rooms, dinners and so on. It’s an economic engine.”
Georgia Sen. Brandon Beach (R), co-author of state Senate Bill 71
“NIL is kind of the Wild West,” said Mike Lewis, a marketing professor at Emory University. “This change in tax policy makes Georgia more competitive with low-cost states; maybe this is just something that’s a temporary event for all of us.”
However, he does wonder if this bill is worth what it could be costing the state.
“By making your state university more prominent, making the admissions more competitive,” Lewis notes. “You’re growing that university in terms of reputation and stature, and that might be the fundamental benefit to this.”
“I’m not sure if the state government, in my eyes, should be getting involved in trying to determine how good our college football and basketball teams are going to be,” added Brent Evans, a Georgia College & State University professor who researches NIL.
Evans believes the state could be missing out on tax revenue that could be used for other purposes, such as improving infrastructure.
“Will it help Georgia athletes? … It probably will,” he says. “But there’s absolutely a cost that comes from that, too. We could be spending this money on something else.”
