HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pittsburgh’s so-called jock tax, which levies a 3% tax on income earned by visiting athletes and performers at publicly funded stadiums, discriminates against nonresidents, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
City residents who play or perform at the stadiums pay a 1% tax on income, plus a 2% school district tax. The city argued that the net effect of the taxing scheme was therefore the same. However, the high court, like lower courts who first heard the case, disagreed, noting that nonresident workers are not subject to the school tax.
“The city does not provide concrete reasons that would justify taxing nonresident athletes and entertainers more than resident athletes and entertainers,” Justice David N. Wecht wrote for the seven-member court. The decision was unanimous, although the judges were divided in their reasoning.
The ruling, which echoed those issued by lower courts in the case, is expected to cost the city millions in lost revenue. The city had collected $2.6 million from the tax so far in 2025, a mayoral spokesperson said.
“This decision will further shift the cost burden of essential city services onto our residents, while reducing the responsibility of performers and professional athletes to contribute to covering the significant costs associated with large public events,” Olga George, a spokesperson for Mayor Ed Gainey, said in an email.
The judges, though, noted that state lawmakers authorized the tax in the early 2000s not to offset the cost of stadium construction but to boost the city’s strained finances.
The plaintiffs include former Pittsburgh Penguin Scott Wilson; Kyle Palmieri of the New York Islanders; former baseball player Jeff Francoeur; and the players’ associations of the National Hockey League, National Football League and Major League Baseball.
FILE - People stand on the field in Acrisure Stadium before an NFL football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks in Pittsburgh, Sept. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
Buffalo (12-5) at Jacksonville (13-4)
Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, CBS.
BetMGM NFL odds: Bills by 1.
Against the spread: Bills 8-9, Jaguars 12-5.
Series record: Tied 10-10, with Jacksonville winning both postseason matchups.
Last meeting: Bills beat the Jaguars 47-10 in Buffalo on Sept. 23, 2024.
Last week: Jaguars beat the Titans 41-7; Bills beat the Jets 35-8.
Bills offense: overall (4), rush (1), pass (15), scoring (T4).
Bills defense: overall (7), rush (28), pass (1), scoring (12).
Jaguars offense: overall (11), rush (20), pass (12), scoring (6).
Jaguars defense: overall (11), rush (1), pass (21), scoring (8).
Turnover differential: Bills plus-1; Jaguars plus-13.
QB Josh Allen enters the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season and with a 7-6 record, with four of those losses on the road. He’s completed 65.7% of his passes, averaging 258 yards a game, with 33 touchdowns (25 passing, seven rushing, one receiving). He also has just four interceptions and two lost fumbles.
RB Travis Etienne could be playing his final game in Jacksonville. The fifth-year pro is a pending free agent, and although he has a career-high 13 total touchdowns, he hasn’t topped 100 yards rushing since late September. Going against a defense that has allowed more than 150 yards on the ground seven times gives him a chance to shine.
The NFL’s top rushing attack against the league’s best run defense. Buffalo’s James Cook led the league with 1,621 yards rushing, averaging 95.3 a game, and faces a unit that didn’t allow any player to reach 75 yards on the ground. The Jaguars topped the league in run defense for the first time in franchise history, allowing 85.6 yards a game. They became the third team since 2000 to not allow a 75-yard rusher in any game.
Bills: Jordan Phillips won’t play after joining fellow DT Ed Oliver (torn bicep/knee) on injured reserve. Rookie CB Maxwell Hairston (ankle) is not expected to play. K Matt Prater is questionable after aggravating a quadriceps injury to his kicking leg. Starting LB Terrel Bernard’s status bears monitoring because of a calf injury that led to him sitting out last weekend.
Jaguars: RG Patrick Mekari (back) and LT Cole Van Lanen (knee) are expected back. Mekari missed the past two weeks, and Van Lanen injured his right knee in the fourth quarter against Tennessee and sat out practice Wednesday.
The series is tied at 10, although Jacksonville has won three of the past four, including a wild-card game in the 2017 season that featured Jaguars QB Blake Bortles finishing with more rushing yards (88) than passing yards (87).
The Bills are 7-7 in playoff games in nine seasons under coach Sean McDermott, with five of those losses coming on the road. ... The Bills have dropped eight consecutive road games in the playoffs, all of them since a win at Miami in the 1992 AFC championship game. The road skid is the NFL’s second-longest, active postseason run behind Detroit’s 12 in a row. ... Buffalo went 6-5 when trailing at halftime and twice overcame double-digit, fourth-quarter deficits. ... Allen was sacked a career-high 40 times and went 3-5 in games he committed a turnover. Playoffs included, he’s 48-35 in games in which he commits a turnover, and 46-10 in turnover-free outings. ... Cook is Buffalo’s first player to win the NFL rushing title since O.J. Simpson did so four times, the last one coming in 1976. ... Khalil Shakir led Buffalo with 719 yards receiving, but the Bills had 11 players with at least one TD catch, led by TE Dalton Kincaid’s five. ... LT Dion Dawkins, S Jordan Poyer, CB Tre’Davious White, LB Matt Milano and LS Reid Ferguson all holdovers from the Buffalo team that lost at Jacksonville in the 2017 wild-card game. … The Jaguars are averaging 33.6 points during their eight-game winning streak, the franchise's longest since 1999. ... They are 4-1 in home playoff games. … Jacksonville is the third team in NFL history to win 13 or more games a season after losing 13 or more, joining a list that includes 2025 New England and 1999 Indianapolis. … Jacksonville's Liam Coen is the seventh head coach in NFL history to win 13 or more games in his first season. ... QB Trevor Lawrence joined Allen, Arizona’s Kyler Murray and Carolina’s Cam Newton as the only players in NFL history with 25 or more TD passes and nine of more TD runs the same season. Lawrence has 24 total TDs (19 passing and five rushing) during the team's win streak. ... LB Devin Lloyd finished second in the NFL with six takeaways, including five interceptions. ... CB Antonio Johnson had a career-high nine pass defenses in the regular season. ... Lloyd and Johnson were only players in the NFL with five or more INTs and at least one sack.
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Jacksonville Jaguars place-kicker Cam Little (39) celebrates his 67-yard field goal during the first half of an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Buffalo Bills offensive tackle Alec Anderson (70) spikes the ball after running back Ty Johnson scored a touchdown against the New York Jets in the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) runs the ball past Tennessee Titans outside linebackers Truman Jones (56) and Jaylen Harrell, far right, during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Buffalo Bills tight end Dawson Knox (88) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the New York Jets in the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
