His baseball shortcomings are reason enough not to sign Vernon Wells, but as Ken Rosenthal pointed out yesterday, not signing him has an added bonus: it could save him a million dollars in taxes.
Wells lives in Texas. If he stays home all summer, the money he is owned by the Angels and Yankees is all taxable in Texas, which has no state income tax. If he signs with anyone but the Rangers, Astros, Marlins, Rays and Mariners -- major league cities in states without state income taxes -- he’s have to pay the taxman for home earnings. No matter where he’d sign he’d have to pay taxes for earnings made on road games in states with an income tax.
So: do Vernon Wells a solid. Don’t sign him.
