Justices reject city's appeal over 'jock tax'

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from the city of Cleveland over its formula for taxing visiting professional athletes for their work in the city.

The justices let stand a lower court ruling that said the city’s method of taxing athletes based on the share of all their games that are played in Cleveland violates players’ due process rights.

The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that the city must assess taxes based on players’ Cleveland work as a share of their total number of working days per year, not just their games, as is common
elsewhere. The ruling said the city unfairly imposed a 2 percent income tax on ex-Chicago Bears linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer.

The city argued that its method was a reasonable interpretation of the law.