Fact Check: Will Josh Allen Lose Nearly $30 Million From His $55 Million Salary to New York Taxes?

Claim: After signing a six-year, $330-million contract extension with the Buffalo Bills, Josh Allen is set to take home an average yearly salary of $55,000,000. However, thanks to Uncle Sam and the state of New York, the star quarterback will lose more than half of that salary to taxes.

While accounting for state and federal income taxes, in addition to other, more obscure charges such as the Jock Tax, MLFootball is now reporting that Allen stands to lose more $27 million to the United States government in 2025.

Source of the rumor: The official X (or Twitter) account of MLFootball recently shared a post depicting the various monetary sums that Allen will pay come tax season. A similar post was also made with regard to what Brock Purdy’s taxes in California will look like after signing his massive contract extension.

The state of New York has an infamously high tax rate, causing posts of this nature to circulate on a yearly basis. While the general idea of paying an unfair amount of taxes in New York is certainly a fact of life, the particular numbers involved with these renderings can often be inaccurate.

Verdict: Obviously, Allen is at the very top of New York’s tax bracket. Assuming that he will be filing his taxes as a married man who is deemed to be the “head of the household,” Allen will be expected to pay $2,494,163 plus 10.9% of the amount over $25,000,000, according to NerdWallet‘s breakdown of the state’s tax brackets. When applying that formula to Allen’s $55-million salary, the math works out to a state income tax of $8,489,163.

Should he file separately, then that number would climb slightly to $8,504,929. While those dollar amounts are certainly nothing to sneeze at, they do suggest that some of the numbers cited by MLFootball are inaccurate. Given that certain aspects of Allen’s finances are to remain private, the public is often left with nothing more than rough estimates to work with in these types of scenarios.

Nevertheless, it’s worth mentioning that Allen’s tax payments are not new to speculation. Several reports like this one have been made throughout the past years, all of which refer to him coughing up approximately half of his yearly salary.

It’s no secret that professional athletes pay obscene amounts of money in taxes, especially in New York and California, as both states harbor some of the highest tax rates in the nation. So, while these kinds of posts are seldom spot on about the money, the idea that Allen will be paying a seemingly unfair amount of his yearly earnings, nearly half to be exact, is unfortunately accurate.

Add in the fact that those New York taxes will only apply to his games played within the border of the state, and not all 17 regular season games, and it becomes safe to say that, while he is still getting ripped off by the federal government, he’s not taking home a “measly” raw net income of $25,267,547 either.