Why Seattle Seahawks can withstand new 'millionaire tax'

It didn’t take long for Seattle Seahawks general manager and president of football operations John Schneider to hear from people he deals with regularly about the income tax Washington state lawmakers passed last week for residents making over $1 million in a year.

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“There were a bunch of agents yesterday texting me like, hey, can’t use that anymore, buddy,” Schneider said Thursday to Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob, referring to Washington’s status as a non-income tax state. “I think it is (impactful) for all the pro teams here in town. It’s always been a huge attraction, especially competing with the California teams. It’s been a big deal for us.

“So yeah, it’s going to sting, from a recruiting standpoint… All the (salary) cap guys that have been here before too are looking at this, like, dang. It’s gonna sting, there’s no question about it.”

Schneider clearly has a point, and he would have as good of an idea about how much players could be dissuaded to sign somewhere due to an income tax since it’s been something he could use in his favor over his entire 16-year tenure with the Seahawks. But it doesn’t mean the new “millionaire tax” that is likely to take effect in 2028 will make or break the Seahawks’ recruiting pitch when trying to sign free agents in the future.

In fact, they currently get to use something in their pitch that teams rarely have the ability to pull out: they’re the reigning Super Bowl champs.

“I think ultimately players want to win,” Seattle Sports’ Curtis Rogers said during Friday’s edition of Bump and Stacy. “That should be your biggest recruiting pitch, and the Seahawks have a brand new, sparkly, shiny Lombardi Trophy in their lobby right now that they can show to prospective free agents and say, hey, we’ve got one of these in the very recent past. That should be the ultimate thing that should attract a free agent here is that you’ve got the ability to win.”

And it’s not like the Seahawks are the only team in the NFL that will have to worry about an income tax for their players. The only teams in the NFL whose states don’t have an income tax are the Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins in Florida, the Las Vegas Raiders in Nevada, the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans in Texas, and the Tennessee Titans. By the way, the only one of those teams to win a Super Bowl this century was Tampa Bay, which did so at the end of the 2002 and 2020 seasons.

“I think you’re going to have to get a little more creative in how you recruit free agents to come to Seattle,” Rogers said, “but I don’t think this is going to spell the end for the Seahawks being a Super Bowl contender.”

Host Stacy Rost agreed, and pointed out that a state where two of Seattle’s NFC West rivals reside, neither of whom have struggled to sign players, has long had an income tax.

“It’s a little bit of a wrench, a baby wrench, that’s thrown into things,” she said. “… I would imagine it’s more of an annoyance than it is something that will completely take down your ability to sign competitive free agents. And by the way, you know where you get taxed to you-know-what? California. … I think winning cures all for a lot of reasons, and will continue to be the case here.”

Hear the full discussion in the middle segment of the podcast at this link or in the player below. Catch Bump and Stacy from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.

Why Seattle Seahawks can withstand new ‘millionaire tax’

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