NEW YORK -- Tom Glavine isn't scheduled to pitch during the New York Mets' four-game road trip in San Juan this week, but Glavine will still owe the Puerto Rican government approximately $42,000 in income taxes.

	Tom Glavine may not even throw a single pitch in San Juan, but will have to reach into his pocket for $42,000 in taxes.

Glavine and his teammates, who will be the first to play the Montreal Expos in their new home-away-from-home of San Juan, will be greeted with a 20 percent income tax that was ushered through the Puerto Rico Legislature last week. Expected to generate $6 million to $7 million in revenue, the tax is scheduled to be signed by Puerto Rico Gov. Sila Maria Calderón on Wednesday, in time for the Expos' first homestand that begins Friday.

But while the income tax will be levied on players, the same bill excludes a 10 percent excise tax on revenue earned by the promoter, Antonio Muñoz Sr., and a 29 percent tax on any revenue earned by Major League Baseball, which owns the Expos. Tickets range from $10 to $85 throughout the Expos' visit, the upcoming 16-game series and another six-game homestand in September.

"When states want to make money, it's pretty easy to find us," said Glavine, the player's union representative from the National League, who before Sunday's game against the Expos at Shea Stadium said he had not heard of the recently passed legislation. "But we're going to Puerto Rico to promote international goodwill and this tax plan doesn't exactly give you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside."

When asked why Major League Baseball's revenues had escaped a tax, league spokesman Rich Levin said the baseball's lawyers believed it would be liable for the tax. But Juan Mendez, advisor to Puerto Rico's Secretary of Treasury, said baseball would receive tax-exempt status under the new bill, an incentive that was promised to entice the league to bring the Expos to San Juan.

The 10 highest earning players traveling to the island, including Expos outfielder Vladimir Guerrero, Texas Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez and native Puerto Rican José Vidro, likely will pay more than $1 million combined in taxes.

Over the past decade, professional athletes in the four major leagues have been forced to file a bevy of tax returns from various states every year. Although all citizens are supposed to file tax returns for business executed in visiting states, athletes are singled out because state officials have the luxury of easily monitoring their very public travel itineraries.

	Show them the money
	A look at what the top 10 taxed players will pay in Puerto Rican tax, based on 210 days duty:
	Player	Team	Salary/ game	Gms	Total tax
	Vladimir Guerrero	Expos	$54,762	22	$240,944
	Fernando Tatis	Expos	$30,952	22	$130,944
	Javier Vazquez	Expos	$28,571	22	$125,708
	Jose Vidro	Expos	$26,190	22	$115,236
	Orlando Hernandez	Expos	$19,524	22	$85,910*
	Livan Hernandez	Expos	$16,666	22	$73,326
	Orlando Cabrera	Expos	$14,762	22	$69,146
	Mo Vaughn	Mets	$81,429	4	$65,143
	Alex Rodriguez	Rangers	$104,762	3	$62,857
	Mike Piazza	Mets	$74,286	4	$59,428
	*May pay less, currently on the disabled list

California became the first state to levy what has become known as a "jock tax" in 1991, allegedly to serve as retribution after the Chicago Bulls defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals earlier that year. Over the past 12 years, 19 states and a handful of municipalities that are home to professional sports teams have kept a focused eye on the visiting bench, hoping to reduce large state budget deficits.

Much of the objection from professional sports league players unions have been centered on the inconvenience and costs of filing so many state tax returns, as home states usually have reciprocity agreements that credit the amount of taxes paid by the player on the road, so long as it does not exceed the home state's tax.

"It's crazy to put this kind of administrative burden on professional athletes and no other professionals," said Stephen Kidder, a partner at Boston-based Hemenway & Barnes who represents the Major League Baseball Players Association, the NHL Players Association and the NFL Players Association on tax issues.

Since the income taxes paid to Puerto Rico will be a foreign tax credit toward their higher U.S. and Canada federal tax rates, Kidder said the total money paid out will have little financial impact on the players.

The Expos' highest-paid player, Vladimir Guerrero, earns almost $55,000 per game. He wasn't surprised to hear that he will be donating about $240,000 to the Puerto Rican government. Guerrero told ESPN.com he's used to paying a lot of taxes.

"Puerto Rico has the good fortune of getting a great boost of revenue from Major League Baseball," said David Hoffman, an economist with the Tax Foundation who has studied jock taxes. "But this is like they've tasted the milk and they're trying to get the whole cow. It's absurd to take advantage of these players."

Edgar Arroyo, chief technical officer of the Puerto Rico Department of Treasury, defended the taxation, saying that U.S. citizens who are not residents of Puerto Rico normally have to pay a 20 percent income tax on all business done in the commonwealth. The tax is lower, Arroyo said, than the 29 percent some Expos players -- who are not Puerto Rican or U.S. residents -- would have to pay if the bill was not structured. Arroyo also said the legislature was looking into the possibility of passing a similar bill, mandating that high-profile entertainers pay the same flat 20 percent rate.

"It's nothing new for us," said Expos pitcher Javier Vazquez, a native Puerto Rican who will pay about $125,000 -- the third-highest income tax bill of any Major League player to visit Puerto Rico. "We pay taxes in plenty of states and if it's a couple hundred dollars here and there, it's not going to make much of a difference."

A Major League Baseball player has to worry about paying non-resident taxes when visiting all but six clubs. It's worse in the NHL, where it's 27 out of 30 teams, and the NFL, which has 25 franchises in visiting tax territory.

	“	For the first time ever we're being taxed by three different countries. It might be a lot of paperwork, but I don't think there's anything to avoid here. I feel fortunate to be playing and making the salary that I do. ”
		— Expos catcher Michael Barrett

"For the first time ever we're being taxed by three different countries," said Expos catcher Michael Barrett, who will pay about $55,000 in income taxes to Puerto Rico. "It might be a lot of paperwork, but I don't think there's anything to avoid here. I feel fortunate to be playing and making the salary that I do."

If there's any solace to paying money to the Puerto Rican government it could be that Expos players will be receiving double the Major League per diem of $76.50 during their games in Puerto Rico. Players also have the option of bringing their families on the team charter to the games in San Juan.

It doesn't look like the Expos, or any players in the four major professional sports, will escape paying income taxes anytime soon.

Both stadium organizing groups in Washington, D.C., and Oregon, hoping to woo the Expos, have plans to use the income tax of players to help fund their new stadiums.

Although the Home Rule charter prohibits the District of Columbia from taxing non-resident income, Congress could amend the charter. The Washington council would then impose a tax solely on Major League Baseball players, said city councilman Harold Brazil, chairman of the economic development committee who is overseeing the campaign to bring baseball to Washington. The players would be taxed 9.7 percent of their per-game pay on games played in Washington, which annually could generate more than $5 million in revenue, Brazil said.

Brazil will have to wait. The amendment that would be introduced as House Bill 1450 has been tabled until Congress returns from its spring recess on April 29.

Oregon's tax would not create any new taxes. Instead, money collected from the income tax of players would be earmarked toward repaying $150 million in stadium bonds. A bill to steer the players' income taxes toward that initiative was introduced in Oregon's House of Representatives in late March.

"It's obviously harder to collect income taxes from everyday people who you don't know are in the state," said David Kahn, head of the Oregon Stadium Campaign. "But that doesn't mean this is a special tax just for athletes."

	Who gets what
	Highest income taxes for pro athletes
	Alberta, Canada (NHL players only)	12.5%
	California	9.3%
	Oregon	9%
	North Carolina	8.75%
	Minnesota	7.85%
	Ohio	7.5%
	Utah	7%
	New York	6.85%
	States with no income tax
	Florida
	Tennessee
	Texas
	Washington

The constitutionality of imposing taxes on one specific group, like Washington would do, could be challenged, Kidder said.

The NHLPA recently lost a grievance it filed against the league, claiming that the 12.5 percent income tax levied on games played in the Canadian province of Alberta -- which affects games played by and against the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers -- violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement because the taxes collected were given back to the teams. The tax, which affects only hockey players, was never challenged legally, but could have been if it were in the United States, Kidder said.

Kidder said the policy of some U.S. states that allow their cities -- like Cincinnati and Cleveland -- to impose separate income taxes aimed only at players, could have legal merit. Brazil said attorneys at three law firms have looked at the tax proposal and believe that the Washington tax on professional baseball players only is constitutionally sound.

At 9.3 percent tax, California has remained the leader in "jock tax" collection. To date, the state has collected $66 million in income taxes from athletes playing in games involving the state's 10 sports teams since June 30, 2002, according to Patrick Hill, spokesman for the California Franchise Tax Board.

Given the revenue, it's no surprise that states pay full-time employees to monitor team travel in and out of the state. Although Hill said every businessperson earning money in California is subject to the income tax, he admits that athletes are easier to keep up with. Not only does the state keep track of athletes' salaries to deduct the percentage from the per diem salary, but they also monitor whether an athlete travels with the team and is active. If a player is on the disabled list, but travels with the team, he is not expected to pay taxes, Hill said.

Athletes are charged per day based on duty days. In baseball, duty days are defined as the amount of days worked between the beginning of spring training and the close of the regular season, which works out to be between 210 and 230 days. NHL and NBA players usually have about 200 duty days, including games played during the exhibition and regular season, while NFL players usually have about 160 duty days, although Cleveland is currently only counting games as duty days, meaning much higher taxes since the athlete's salary is only divided by 20 instead of 160.

Most states work with others to give players credit for taxes paid in other states, but cooperation isn't always easy -- especially with Illinois.

With the MLBPA's backing, former White Sox pitcher Scott Radinsky sued the Illinois Department of Revenue in 1996 for taxing his 1992 salary as a resident of Illinois, even though he lived in California. Radinsky has since won at the circuit court level and the appeal is pending before the Illinois Supreme Court. In May 2002, Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa sued the state for taxing 100 percent of his 1998 salary and refusing to deduct visiting payments of $38,169 he made to different states.

State revenue representatives have said it is within a state's right to deny credit from taxes paid in other states and non-residents, like Radinsky, should still be fully taxed since he is paid in Chicago. Approximately 100 current and former Chicago players, including Andre Dawson, Greg Maddux and Dennis Rodman, are waiting to get their rebates should Radinsky's decision be upheld.

"We know we're easy targets," Glavine said. "Since we make a lot of money, states like to follow up with us more than they do with the poor businessman. It's something we seemingly have no control over. It might seem fine now, but who knows? If we go back to Puerto Rico next year, maybe they'll raise the rates."

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at Darren.rovell@espn3.com