Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick did his former employer’s status no favors when he appeared on the Pat McAfee Show on Monday.
Belichick, who left the Patriots last offseason, spoke about the difficulties of trying to bring players to New England.
One of the things he pointed out was the high tax rates in the state of Massachusetts, and the 72-year-old coach referenced one of the state’s most infamous nicknames.
“Yeah, it’s Taxachusetts. Yeah. They take more from you. So pretty much every player, even the ones on a practice squad, but even the players on the minimum are pretty close to a million dollars.
“And once you hit the million-dollar threshold, you pay more state taxes in Massachusetts. So that’s another thing you have to deal with in the negotiations there.
Bill Belichick showed no love for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on Monday
Belichick called the state ‘Taxachusetts’ and said high rates prevented players from signing
“It’s not like Tennessee, Florida, Nevada or some of these teams that don’t have state income tax. So the agents hit you pretty hard in that regard.
“They will come and criticize you for the taxes they pay. We get no benefit from that.”
While comments on the initial post on Pat McAfee’s show mocked the nickname, one Patriots fan reposted it. The comments on that post show that many people are defending the state.
“Yes, we all cried for your bill. You can move now that you are unemployed. Let’s compare education, healthcare, infant mortality, etc. to Tennessee or other red states,” one user wrote.
Another wrote: “Surprising this doesn’t affect any of the other teams in Boston or other high tax states. Maybe it was you Bill lol.”
“I’m not going to take any lectures about Massachusetts’ high taxes when it’s also a national leader on issues like education and healthcare,” another user said. “Massachusetts also gives more to the federal tax fund than it takes in. It’s literally subsidizing the economies of Tennessee, Florida, and Nevada.”
Others compared the Patriots’ situation to that of other Massachusetts sports teams.
“The Celtics don’t play in Massachusetts? They don’t seem to have too much trouble signing free agents,” one user wrote.
Beneath a post of that video were several Twitter users defending Massachusetts.
Another user said: “Six rings. The Celtics just won. If state taxes make a difference, we don’t want that player anyway. We’re mentally selfish. Massachusetts is the best state in the nation and it doesn’t come close.”
“So either the failure to sign Jacobi Myers or DeAndre Hopkins was a state tax issue or it was Bill and Robert Kraft who made these cheap, lowball offers,” another said.
The Patriots just closed out their preseason on Sunday night with a 20-10 loss to the Washington Commanders.
New England went 1-3 in the preseason under new head coach Jerod Mayo.
They open the regular season on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals.
