A Taxing Time for Phil

Phil Mickelson's comments about the tax rate in California have been considered "controversial" and Phil backed off this week, saying he probably shouldn't have said anything. Tiger was asked about it in his presser Tuesday and simply said he thought he knew what Phil meant and that's why he moved to Florida when he turned pro back in 1996.

Perhaps California collects so much tax in order to pay for those "Come to California" commercials. After all, movie stars demand big pay. (Apparently because of those California tax rates.)

I did a little searching and found some articles on Phil's problem. First, if you want to know exactly what Phil said that started the whole thing, you can read the transcript at this asapsports.com link.

Then, at forbes.com, I found some interesting info about the problem:

• They ran an article that tells a little about the problem Phil and other high-paid people face by being California residents.
• But I also found this article that tells how hard California makes it to leave the state. Apparently it's tough to prove you really aren't a Californian anymore!

The word is that Phil pays in the neighborhood of a 62% tax rate. It sounds as if California isn't careful, cool commercials won't be enough to attract new residents.

I suspect Phil can find a nice place in Florida though... and they don't have any state income tax.

FYI: For those of you who are curious, there are 7 states with no state income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. In addition, Tennessee and New Hampshire tax only dividend and interest income. These states do have other taxes (such as higher sales taxes) but they still aren't as high overall as most other states. That information came from this page at about.com.

And the photo of Phil came from the first forbes.com article I mentioned.