Lawmaker again takes aim at NFL tax status

WASHINGTON (AP) Days before the Super Bowl, a Utah lawmaker is again sponsoring a bill that would punt the tax exemption for professional sports leagues.

Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz says the National Football League and National Hockey League are for-profit businesses that earn millions of dollars a year and should be taxed as such. Currently, NFL and NHL teams are taxable, but their leagues are not.

Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, introduced a similar bill last year. Chaffetz, a former kicker at Brigham Young University, says his bill would generate about $10 million a year in tax revenue.

Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state introduced a bill last year to strip the NFL's tax-exempt status because it has not taken action over the Washington Redskins' name.