Pro golfer Phil Mickelson got a little Texas love after spouting off about forking over so much of his winnings in taxes to his native California.
Gov. Rick Perry took to Twitter to let Mickelson know that he's more than welcome in the Lone Star State, which has no income tax.
"Hey Phil....Texas is home to liberty and low taxes...we would love to have you as well!!" Perry tweeted Monday night.
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Perry's invitation followed an apology from Mickelson to his fans for venting about his high taxes — state and federal. Mickelson puts his overall rate at "62, 63 percent" when he includes disability, unemployment and Social Security. Last year, he made roughly $45 million on and off the greens, according to Golf Digest's annual survey of top earners.
"Finances and taxes are a personal matter, and I should not have made my opinions on them public," Mickelson said Monday night. "I apologize to those I have upset or insulted, and assure you I intend not to let it happen again."
Mickelson, 42, made his first reference to taxes during a news conference two weeks ago when he talked about "what's gone on the last few months politically." On Jan. 1, Congress approved a deal that raises income and investment rates for the wealthy; in November, California voters approved Proposition 30, which increases the rate on earnings more than $250,000 for seven years.
The golfer elaborated at another news conference Sunday after his final round at the Humana Challenge in La Quinta, Calif., a couple of hours northeast of his home in Rancho Santa Fe.
"There are going to be some drastic changes for me because I happen to be in that zone that has been targeted both federally and by the state," said Mickelson, who already has pulled out of a group that bought the San Padres baseball team because of the new laws. "So I'm going to have to make some changes."
Mickelson's bluntness has drawn both boos and cheers from fans and colleagues, many whom live in income-tax-free Florida, a global golf destination.
Tiger Woods grew up in Southern California and played at Stanford University but moved to the Sunshine State shortly after his professional debut in 1996.
"I enjoy Florida, but also I understand what he was — I think — trying to say," Woods said Tuesday.
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Australian professional golfer Geoff Ogilvy was less generous.
"He definitely showed a lack of sympathy for the plight of a lot of people, unemployed and all that sort of stuff," Ogilvy said. "But everything is relative. He's verbalized when he's thinking, and you shouldn't get in trouble for verbalizing what you're thinking. I assume it's less of a personal thing and more of a political-type statement, maybe? ... He probably shouldn't have said it the way he said it."
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