Big-time College Sports Programs Worried How Loss of Booster Break Will Affect Tax Season

WASHINGTON — Rep. Roger Williams is a former Texas Christian University baseball player and coach. He’s a TCU trustee who attends all manner of Horned Frogs sporting events. His name is on the Fort Worth school’s baseball field.So he’s not thrilled — and neither are many universities — that the GOP’s tax plan axes the deduction that can be taken on donations made to secure college sports season tickets.“It’s somewhat of a shock to the schools,” said the Austin Republican, whose district includes the University of Texas at Austin. “Because this is a big part of their revenue, where you can give and the person giving can get a deduction.”The seat licensing showdown perhaps embodied the GOP’s push to eliminate prized breaks in exchange for lower tax rates — and how that effort, approved this month, drew serious backlash.College boosters can currently deduct 80 percent of what they pay for the right to buy season tickets. The perk can reduce their taxable income by thousands of dollars. And it’s part of a fundraising machine that’s allowed programs to haul in tens of millions of dollars each year.School officials worry that the loss of the deduction will dampen giving, joining other tax changes in causing a fiscal crunch that could hamper, among other things, scholarships for Olympic sports.  Continue reading...