Maybe McCain Can Ban Him for Life

Matt Welch | November 2, 2005

Missouri state legislator Jeff Roorda, a Democrat, wants to introduce a tax on visiting umpires officiating sporting events in the state. Why?

Roorda said his idea grew out of his frustration with umpires in the National League Championship Series. [...]

"I think if they're not going to pay attention, they ought to at least pay taxes," Roorda said.

I'm beginning to think we need a new Constitutional amendment: Congress and all other jackass legislative bodies shall pass no laws having anything to do with professional sports, ever. (Link via Radley Balko.)

Comments

Donut|11.2.05 @ 6:07PM|#

States are already doing this to athletes...

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_27/b3840062.htm

Seitz|11.2.05 @ 6:10PM|#

They tax the players. I have no problem with them taxing the umps too. For most people who work such a short amount of time out of state, it's not worth the administrative hassle to collect, which is why they generally set limits on how long you have to work somewhere before you're liable for OOS income tax. It's worth for ballplayers and umps, and it's easy to track their time.

The reasoning this guy uses is stupid, but the principle is sound.

|11.2.05 @ 6:11PM|#

Ok boys and girls, I know a lot of schools aren't really teaching civics anymore, so here's how it works: We have something called THE CONSTITUTION. People who are in government derive (that means get) their powers from the Constitution. One of the results of this is that they can't just make up a law about anything they want like some kind of king. AND IF YOU DON'T KNOW THIS, YOU PROBABLY SHOULDN'T BE IN THE FUCKING GOVERNMENT.

|11.2.05 @ 6:15PM|#

There were some pretty shitty calls during the NLCS play-offs. However, I don't think an Umpire Tax is the answer. Just because a politician gets pissed his team didn't win the play-offs doesn't mean we need a new tax on something. Is this what legislators do when they have a bad day, think of new things to tax?

That said, its ashame baseball can't modernize a little bit and allow off the field officials to review bad calls via camera and help the field Umpires come to a quick, but more carefully thought out, decision on difficult calls. I realize baseball Umpires can't stop the game everytime a player or coach argues a call, but consecutive shitty calls can ruin a game in some cases. Plus, its just plain annoying to watch Umpires (or anybody) have all that unrelegated authority.

|11.2.05 @ 6:23PM|#

Perhaps they ought to pass a tax that raises the rate of taxation on any member of congress who proposes legislation that violates the Constitution.

Matt Welch|11.2.05 @ 6:24PM|#

First of all, if there are any lawmakers who should be pissed about postseason umpiring, they're in Los Angeles of Anaheim, California. Second, Seitz, your "principle" already applies to outrageously high hotel taxes everywhere, and the only thing principled about it is the transparency of the lawmakers' equation of taxation with punishment.

Seitz|11.2.05 @ 6:33PM|#

It's not punishment. It's just politically expedient to tax people who can't vote you out of office. Hey, I don't necessarily like paying them either, but there's nothing unconstitutional about taxing people on income earned inside your state, and there's nothing unconstitutional about transient taxes. The law if fairly well settled.

Seitz|11.2.05 @ 6:39PM|#

Or rather, the law "is" fairly well settled.

|11.2.05 @ 6:40PM|#

I don't see a problem with this. If an umpire doesn't want to pay Missouri taxes, they can simply choose to not work in Missouri.

|11.2.05 @ 6:42PM|#

...and thus Matt was right when he suggested his Constitutional amendment. Then it can be super-duper-settled law, to adapt Senator Specter's phrase.

|11.2.05 @ 6:45PM|#

It could be worse, residents of states other than Maine who have a spouse working in Maine still get to pay income taxes there. So if you and your spouse are residents of NH and your spouse is a dishwasher at a restaurant in Maine and you are the CEO of a company in NH...Maine wins the tax lottery.

Eddy

Larry A|11.2.05 @ 6:50PM|#

mattc: Is this what legislators do when they have a bad day, think of new things to tax?

Delete "bad" and you've got the idea.

|11.2.05 @ 6:59PM|#

This Roorda clown is about as bright as whichever jackass politician thought he could solve the "drug problem" by recalling all the $50 and $100 bills because that would then leave drug dealers with no legal tender to operate with.

These politicians really should get paid about a week a year, clearly they have way too much time on their hands.

|11.2.05 @ 8:48PM|#

I don't see a problem with this. If an umpire doesn't want to pay Missouri taxes, they can simply choose to not work in Missouri.

It's statements like this that make me want to swat the "federalism uber Alles" flavor of libertarians upside the head.

|11.2.05 @ 9:26PM|#

So which is worse: a lawmaker who thinks this is a good idea or one who knows it's a bad idea but does it anyway because it's cute? I honestly can't decide.

|11.2.05 @ 11:14PM|#

JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- A state lawbreaker and Confederate fan says railroads should pay -- literally -- for what he sees as bad calls made during the War Between the States in which the South lost to the North.

Rep(robate) Jesse James, D-Unknown, wants to expand his income base to also include railroads. His current "tax" is charged to out-of-state residents who earn money in Missouri while performing in such acts as prostitution, gambling and banking. Revenues usually go to whatever institutions and programs Mr. James says they should.

James said his idea grew out of his frustration in fighting against the Union Army. But he also contends that it is logical to tax the railroads as they affected the war's outcome, not just the soldiers who fought in it.

"I think if they're not going to pay attrition, they ought to at least pay taxes," James said. "Seriously though, I think it's good public policy. Railroads and banks played a critical role in the outcome of this war and were part of the miserable experience."

James said he doesn't know how much money would be generated by the tax but guessed it wouldn't reach the amount Missouri could have gained if it had won the war.

He plans to implement the tax as soon as he can round up a posse.

Dave W.|11.3.05 @ 3:01AM|#

It is good to tax the umpires because then everybody else's taxes go down. I suppose there is a valid concern that the ump tax money could somehow get diverted into "improving" the state's public schools, but there is some reason to believe that Missouri would have the economic fortitude to resist this temptation and would use the ump money to enhance everybody else's economic freedom. Good outcome.

|11.3.05 @ 8:43AM|#

I think in the true spirit of the free market, this law should pass -- and Major League Baseball should remove its teams from Missouri.

Timothy|11.3.05 @ 10:40AM|#

As an Astros fan, I can categorically state that there were no bad calls in the NLCS. Everett TOTALLY tagged Molina on that play, TOTALLY!

[/scarcasm]

In all seriousness, though, this guy is too dumb to be a baseball fan. Sometimes you get the calls, sometimes you don't. The strike zone was seemingly random for most of the NLCS in particular, and the playoffs generally. I don't know what it is about McClellan, but I'm pretty sure he's the worst umpire in baseball. So bad that he makes the rest of the crew totally incompetent.

And as for adding instant-replay like the NFL, it's a terrible idea. It might make play calling marginally more accurate, but when regular season games average just over three hours already, the last thing baseball needs is to move slower. Plus, you'd lose all of this wonderful bitching about calls.

steve|11.3.05 @ 12:31PM|#

I live in STL and this story is for real. The Post Dispatch is covering it also. It�s an embarrassment, and I have to think that if the tax did pass, the umps are going to be thinking about that tax rate that they are subject to in Missouri as they call the game, don�t you think??????

What an idot..................

|11.3.05 @ 12:54PM|#

Matt's amendment sounds fine to me. It's not like a congressman has ever proposed a good sports-related law. Now, if they were to spend time on things like banning the DH, well, that would be a different story.

|11.4.05 @ 1:24PM|#

It is good to tax the umpires because then everybody else's taxes go down.

Since when does that work, in the real world?

Dave W.|11.4.05 @ 2:28PM|#

Since we took it upon ourselves to treating various and sundry tax evasions (eg, hiring illegals) as a valid measure to shrink gov't. Yes, let's shrink gov't, but with integrity. Tax evasion, at least the kind where you don't expect to be punished, is a bad political technique because it makes the proponents, which is us, look like lawless thugs.