Phil Mickelson took one for the team

Golfer Phil Mickelson made a public relations mistake, and thank goodness he did. While golf is an individual sport, in this case, he took one for the team. At a PGA news conference last week, he spoke out against the new, higher taxes he now has to pay and announced in passing that he might have to make some “drastic changes” to deal with the major tax increases that took effect this month. The liberal press went bonkers, and much of the envious public piled on with insults and ridicule—incensed that anyone making $60 million would dare complain about paying his “fair share.”

A bewildered Mickelson quickly backtracked, apologizing for speaking out on such a political issue. And he apologized again a few days later—after intense meetings with his publicist—delivering his mea culpa with just the right combination of contriteness and self-deprecating joviality.  But then all his backtracking in turn angered other fans, who had lauded him for speaking out.

A California resident, Mickelson’s total federal and state tax on his earnings is now somewhere north of 50 percent—experts and pundits debate just how far north. He claimed he was in the “62, 63 percent tax bracket.” Most experts figure he’s in “only” the 52 percent to 57 percent tax bracket. 

But then, it isn’t important that Mickelson is not on top of his tax game; what matters is that California’s tax rate is now so high that it’s prodding him to take corrective action, as it may prod others. With the passage of Proposition 30, the 13.3 percent income-tax rate on Californians earning more than $1 million annually makes up a hefty portion of the golfer’s high marginal tax rate.

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