Wednesday, November 5, 2008  Look Out For Signing Bonuses  With
the election of Obama and the promise of higher taxes for top
earners that accompanies it, Scott Boras and his fellow agents
may be looking to (a) get their free agent clients signed early;
and (b) get a decent portion of that money in the form of
signing bonuses:  Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama
has proposed increasing the top federal income tax rate from 35
percent to 39.6 percent, where it was under the Clinton
administration. If signing bonuses are paid before Jan. 1, they
likely would be taxed at the current rate and would not be
subject to any tax increase.  "It's something we'll consider,"
agent Craig Landis said Tuesday at the general managers'
meetings. "Besides the federal issue, we have a state issue in
some cases, anyway, where it's advantageous to take signing
bonuses because of the state income tax. A Florida resident can
take the signing bonus and not have to pay his team's state tax"
. . .  . . . Free agents can't s