November 30, 2017 8:54AM 

# A Tax Bill Provision Only Athletic Directors Could Hate 

By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) 

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It’s obviously too early to spike the football, but there is a provision in both the Senate and House tax bills that everyone should be able to endorse, except maybe colleges and their athletics departments: eliminating the 80 percent federal tax deduction college sports season ticket holders get when they pay “seat license” fees—often called “charitable gifts”—charged by schools. It’s an absurd deduction that I’ve [complained](https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/college-basketball-what-public-good-looks) about [periodically](http://www.seethruedu.com/updatessports-donations-flagrant-college-foul/), and it’s nice to see it targeted for elimination. And in case we need a reminder that this deduction has zilch to do with the “public good” that higher ed so often gives as its excuse for every special treatment it demands, *USA Today* has reported that this season 12 big football schools alone are on the hook for [at least $70 million](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2017/11/26/fired-college-football-coaches-owed-more-than-60-million-buyouts/896451001/) to buy out fired head coaches. Sounds like a lot of private good there.

These days it seems like we on Team America can’t agree on anything, but we all ought to agree on this: the seat license deduction must go.

##### Related Tags 

[Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) 

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