http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1225...ays_us_opinion

Another NFL team faces Obama's tax rush.

Don't think tax rates matter to business decisions? Ask H. Wayne Huizenga, the owner of the Miami Dolphins, who declared earlier this week that he intends to sell up to half his ownership in the NFL franchise before next year. Why? Because as he told a Florida newspaper, Barack Obama "wants to double the capital gains tax, or almost double it. I'd rather give it to charity than to him."

Mr. Obama is in fact proposing to raise the capital gains tax to 20% from 15% -- which would be an increase of 33%, but Mr. Huizenga is close enough for IRS work. His office confirmed to us that he stands by that statement, though he prefers not to elaborate on it. Mr. Huizenga also has NFL company. In July, we wrote about the Rooney family's musings about selling part of the Pittsburgh Steelers to avoid the 45% death tax rate.

We saw a similar tax effect in 1992 when Bill Clinton raised tax rates. The Wall Street crowd accelerated income, bonuses and stock sales to pay the 31% rate, not the expected higher rate. One of those who cashed out in 1992 was Robert Rubin, who would soon join the Clinton Administration.

One economist who observed this tax avoidance was Austan Goolsbee, of the University of Chicago, who is now a top Barack Obama adviser. In a 1999 paper, "What Happens When You Tax the Rich?," Mr. Goolsbee wrote that "the higher marginal rates of 1993 led to a significant decline in taxable income." Many of the superrich were able to change the timing of compensation to avoid paying the higher rates. Mr. Goolsbee concluded this was merely "a short term shift," but it did cost the Treasury revenue it had been anticipating.

Dolphin fans can debate Mr. Huizenga's virtues as an owner, but he's right about taxes.