Will NFL and NHL lose tax exemption? White House reviewing the idea
After two days of no comment, the White House says it's reviewing a bill to eliminate the federal tax exemption for top professional sports organizations with annual revenues over $10 million.
That would include the NFL and the NHL.
"We're still reviewing the bill," White House spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine tells CBS News, which first raised the question at the White House daily press briefing on Wednesday.
President Obama repeatedly calls for the elimination of special interest tax loopholes, but Hoffine says the White House is not yet ready to take a position on this legislative proposal.
The bill to eliminate the tax-exemption for well-heeled sports leagues was introduced Wednesday by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah.
"Professional sports organizations aren't fooling anybody," Chaffetz said in a statement announcing his introduction of the measure.
He said organizations such as the NFL and the NHL "are not charities nor are they traditional trade organizations."
"They are for-profit businesses and should be taxed as such," he said.
It would have been a political blow to the NFL on Super Bowl weekend, were the White House to have said it supports the tax-exemption elimination bill.
Citing analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation, eliminating the tax exemption for major professional sports leagues "would increase federal revenues by $109 million over 10 years."
A similar bill was introduced in the last Congress but never got out of the House Ways and Means Committee.