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(Photo by Sarah Stier\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Seattle Seahawks<\/a> will need to navigate the new income tax law passed by Washington state lawmakers. The \u201cmillionaire tax\u201d will apply a 9.9% levy on annual income over $1 million starting in 2028. Governor Bob Ferguson has promised to sign the bill, but it may still face legal challenges.<\/p>\n Seattle is one of eight NFL<\/a> teams based in states without an income tax, along with the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>, Houston Texans<\/a>, Dallas Cowboys<\/a>, Tennessee Titans<\/a>, Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a>, Miami Dolphins<\/a>, and Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s been a key point in the Seahawks\u2019 pitch to potential free-agent signings. Amid changes affecting Seattle\u2019s pitch to free agents in the future, former Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman<\/a> weighed in on how much impact this will truly have.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think it definitely plays a huge factor because when you talk about California, you get the weather,\u201d Sherman said on the March 16 edition of \u201cThe Richard Sherman Podcast.\u201d<\/a> \u201cIf a guy is thinking about going there and he understands he has to deal with that big number for state tax, at least you can sell him on the weather, probably 300 days of sunshine, or 285 days of sunshine, whatever it is, depending on if you\u2019re in the Bay or LA. <\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re going to New York, you can sell them the big city and all the allure that comes with New York City. But for Seattle, a lot of the draw is because it\u2019s a smaller market, and you don\u2019t have to deal with state income tax. That saves you a million bucks on a $10 million deal, especially on a signing bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n Seattle Might Need to Make Bigger Offers In the Future<\/p>\n Nonetheless, Sherman doesn\u2019t believe that the top earners won\u2019t consider coming to Seattle if the team presents a big number they can\u2019t turn down, regardless of the state\u2019s tax situation. <\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019ll definitely have an effect on what players are thinking about when they come here,\u201d Sherman added. \u201cObviously, if the number\u2019s big enough, guys are still going to come play for the Seahawks. It\u2019s not going to change. Total, you know, that nobody\u2019s going to come play for the Seahawks. <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not true at all by any extent, but it\u2019s definitely going to make it more of a conversation than it\u2019s been. It\u2019s definitely going to be more of a factor than it\u2019s ever been because that\u2019s been one of the it go from being a pro, for the Seahawks, to a huge con.\u201d<\/p>\n Seahawks GM Weighs In on New Income Tax Law<\/p>\n Moreover, Seahawks general manager John Schneider recently conveyed he believes Washington state\u2019s new income tax on high earners will ultimately negatively affect the team\u2019s ability to sign free agents.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were a bunch of agents texting me the other day like, \u2018Hey, can\u2019t use that anymore, buddy,’\u201d Schneider said March 12 on his Seattle Sports 710-AM radio show (h\/t ESPN<\/a>). \u201cI think it is for all the pro teams here in town. It\u2019s always been a huge attraction, especially competing with the California teams.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a big deal for us. So, it\u2019s going to sting, from a recruiting standpoint and what that looks like. I\u2019m sure Mike Reinfeldt and Mickey Loomis and all the cap guys that have been here before, too, are looking at this like, dang. It\u2019s going to sting, no question about it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tEduardo Razo<\/a> Eduardo Razo is a sports writer for Heavy.com, covering the NFL, MLB, and college football. He has previously covered the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB for NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area & California, and has freelanced for PSG Talk, covering Paris Saint-Germain. He also worked as an editor at Athlon Sports, focusing on MLB and the NFL. More about Eduardo Razo<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Seahawks\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty (Photo by Sarah Stier\/Getty Images) The Seattle Seahawks will need to navigate the new income tax law…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":816676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2081],"tags":[7,6,238,237,261,2635],"class_list":{"0":"post-816675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-seahawks","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-seahawks","11":"tag-seattle","12":"tag-seattle-seahawks","13":"tag-seattleseahawks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116243604847536811","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/816676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}