College football\u2019s transfer portal season has taken some odd twists and turns this year. Now it\u2019s entering \u2026 tax season?<\/p>\n
In one of the latest oddities, schools in certain states began trading \u201cno state income tax\u201d social media posts as a way to entice players in the portal. Currently, nine states<\/a> don\u2019t levy income taxes: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.<\/p>\n The Houston Cougars, UNLV Rebels and UCF Knights \u2014 all universities within one of those nine states \u2014 posted about their lack of state income taxes on X on Saturday, featuring an image of either a mascot or cheerleader lifting a comically large bag of cash above their heads.<\/p>\n UCF started the movement with a post on Saturday morning featuring its mascot, Knightro. Houston and UNLV soon followed suit, as did the UTEP Miners<\/a>, FIU Panthers<\/a> and North Texas Mean Green<\/a>.<\/p>\n \ud83e\udd1d https:\/\/t.co\/rqQdM0cpCQ<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/OgtMjGVhdx<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Houston Football (@UHCougarFB) January 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n How effective will that pitch be? UCF, Houston and UNLV were all outside the top 40 of 247Sports\u2019 portal rankings<\/a> as of Saturday night, so any little bit helps. Central Florida was the highest at No. 47 in the 247Sports rankings, followed by Houston at No. 49 and UNLV at No. 86. Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Houston were all in the top 10 of On3\u2019s portal rankings<\/a>.<\/p>\n College athletes are not only taxed on their NIL earnings, but also on anything they receive of value. If an athlete receives a new car, for example, they have to pay taxes on it in accordance with its value.<\/p>\n Arkansas has tweaked its tax code<\/a> so that NIL income is tax-exempt as an incentive to induce athletes to sign at the University of Arkansas or other in-state schools.<\/p>\n There was no indication that income taxes were the reason behind another buzzy portal storyline earlier this week: Quarterback Demond Williams changing his mind about entering the portal<\/a> and deciding to stay with the Washington Huskies. On Tuesday, Williams announced he was entering the portal \u2014 four days after signing with the Huskies, a Washington source close to the negotiations told The Athletic\u2019s Bruce Feldman. On Thursday, he said he was \u201cexcited to announce that I will continue my football journey at the University of Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n The Huskies were prepared to pursue legal action against Williams to enforce the contract, a source briefed on the situation told Feldman.\u00a0Williams could have owed the school up to $4 million for transferring, according to Big Ten rules that state that if a player intends to transfer before the end of a payment period, he owes the remaining amount on his contract, unless the school agrees to accept a buyout from the player or the player\u2019s next school.<\/p>\n Williams and his team ultimately decided to stay in Seattle \u2014 where he won\u2019t have to pay state income taxes.<\/p>\n