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That would be true until recently, but the recent steep increases in the New York state income tax and the imposition of New York City income tax will pretty much erase much of the advantages of a higher Yankees salary. Meanwhile, if Cliff Lee stays in Texas, he will get a lower salary but given NO state income taxes in Texas, that means a lot more take-home pay! And with the far lower cost of living in Texas, it also means he could afford a very nice home in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex even with the lower salary.

Again I repeat....the endorsement money he could get in the NY market is so much higher than what he could get in Texas, that he could probably pay a 60% tax and still come out ahead. With the way contracts are structured and the charitable contributions that players use to avoid taxes, they are not hurt as much by higher rates as regular individuals are. If things were as bad as you paint them out to be in NY, then the Yankees would never be able to attract top talent. They don’t have any problems, neither do the Mets, Giants, Jets, Knicks or any of the Fortune 500 firms that set up shop in NYC.