Mickelson Tax Rate: Golf Player Wins $2 Million, Takes Home $842,000 After Taxes
Phil Mickelson earned over $2 million in the past two weeks while playing golf in Scotland. Thanks to taxes however, the player will only receive about $800,000.
Mickelson is considered to be one of the best golfers in the world. He has won 42 events at the PGA tournament and spent a record 700 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings. His paycheck reflects his success. In 2012 Mickelson earned nearly $40 million for spending time on the green. As of January, Bloomberg noted that he was the 7th highest paid player in the world. But he appears to have a tax problem.
In the past two weeks Michelson managed to win both the Scottish Open and the Open Championship. His estimated reward for both winnings was $2,167,500. But due to combined British tax laws, the player was taxed over 61 percent, according to Forbes magazine. As a result, his final check was estimated at around $842,000.
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It's not the first time that the player has had to deal with high taxes. In January Mickelson openly griped about California State's consideration of raising taxes for those who made over $250,000. Mickelson threatened to move as a result of the higher taxes.
"There are going to be some drastic changes for me because I happen to be in that zone that has been targeted both federally and by the state and, you know, it doesn't work for me right now," he said according to Bloomberg. "So I'm going to have to make some changes."
The player later apologized for making open remarks about his personal finances after the public responded with a backlash of negative comments.
"Finances and taxes are a personal matter and I should not have made my opinions on them public," he said a day later. "I certainly don't have a definitive plan at this time, but like everyone else I want to make decisions that are best for my future and my family."
