"His estimated $249,000 tax bill exceeds his $178,000 game bonus"
Nonsense. You're not including other pay he received for playing in CA, including, duh, playing the Rams and the 49ers earlier in the season, and playing the Rams at SOFI in January 2025 as the last game in the prior season..
"So it would have cost Darnold more to play in the Superbowl, so he lost even more money?"
No; some idiots are leaving out other income, and pretending CA has a super-secret tax rate OVER 100%.
"So it would have cost Darnold more to play in the Superbowl, so he lost even more money?"
No. After taxes, there was still money left over...AFTER TAXES.
" The tax is over his 8 day stay in California. But he did receive a $2.5M bonus for Superbowl appearance."
The 8-day stay is meaningless, unless he had other income that week (commercial shoots, etc). The bonus is pro-rated over the season, so the $2.5 is not ALL subject to CA taxes.
What websites are "educating" you with this horse manure???
" He makes 30 million a year, he works X days a year, he spend Y of those days working in California, he owes California Y/X income tax."
Not exactly.
He gets paid different amounts for different days.
He pays taxes on what he earns in CA. The only time "days" come in is when the number 183 is involved. 183+ days in CA, and you're a RESIDENT that year.
Otherwise, he owes taxes where he earns the money. If 20% is earned in CA, he'd owe taxes to CA on 20% of his income, regardless if he spent one day or 100 days in CA.
And if his home state has an income tax, they have to credit what was paid to CA, up to the rate they'd charge on the same income.