Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JERRY WALKER
District 31 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Provides gross income tax exclusion for all compensation earned by college athletes for use of name, image, or likeness.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act providing a gross income tax exclusion for name, image, or likeness compensation earned by college athletes and supplementing chapter 6 of Title 54A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Gross income shall not include compensation earned by a taxpayer for the use of the taxpayer’s name, image, or likeness, during any taxable year in which the taxpayer participates in intercollegiate athletics as a student at a four-year institution of higher education located in the State.
2. This act shall take effect immediately and apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1 of the year next following the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill excludes from New Jersey gross income all compensation earned by a taxpayer for the use of their name, image, or likeness during any taxable year in which the taxpayer participates in intercollegiate athletics as a student at a four-year institution of higher education that is located in the State.
Under State law, a four-year institution of higher education is generally unable to prohibit or prevent student-athletes from earning compensation for the use of the athlete’s name, image, or likeness, except in certain limited instances. The exclusion provided under the bill would only be for taxpayers who participate in intercollegiate athletics as a student at a four-year institution of higher education that is located in the State.