"That's Taxachusetts," Belichick explained during an appearance on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show." "Virtually every player, even the practice squad, even the minimum players are pretty close to $1 million. Once you hit the $1 million threshold, you pay more state tax in Massachusetts."

Belichick even seemed to unearth a talking point from the business groups that fought mightily to defeat the controversial tax and how people would flock to no-income-tax states like Florida and Nevada. I wonder where he got that from? Belichick's former boss and Patriots owner Robert Kraft was among the business heavyweights who gave $1 million to the campaign to stop the tax hike that ultimately passed via ballot initiative in 2022.

Of course, Belichick's bellyaching rings hollow given the millionaires tax was only in effect in his last year of coaching.

I don't need to be a sports columnist to know the Patriots haven't been the same without quarterback Tom Brady. Gone are the days the team could lowball players who knew they'd be playing alongside a G.O.A.T who could lead them to the Super Bowl.

Perhaps Kraft knew better than anybody else what the millionaires tax would mean to his bottom line. He would need to start ponying up for elite players if he ever wants to make it to the playoffs again.

How much more? I asked Robert Raiola, an accountant who specializes in handling the taxes of professional athletes, to run some numbers for me. Here's what he penciled out: Suppose an NFL free agent has narrowed his options to the Miami Dolphins and the Patriots. If he signs a three-year, $24 million contract with the Patriots, he will pay approximately $2.2 million in state tax over the life of the contract. If he signs the same contract with the Dolphins, he will pay just over $100,000 in state tax.

It's no hyperbole that the millionaires tax comes up during negotiations, but it's one of a myriad of factors -- from a team's Super Bowl chances to the weather -- that determine where a player might end up.

"It's different for each guy ... but taxes play a role," said Raiola, director of sports and entertainment group at national accounting firm PKF O'Connor Davies LLP, which has a Boston office and represents Massachusetts athletes. "It's not the number one factor, but it is definitely on the short list of factors to consider when players are free agents."

When it comes to taxing NFL players, Massachusetts isn't the most onerous. The millionaires tax vaulted the state from the middle of the pack in terms of taxes to the top third of NFL destinations, but the Patriots still don't crack the top 10 of the league's 32 teams when it comes to local and state taxes, according to an analysis by The Tax Foundation, a Washington think tank that tracks tax policies.

Players with highest tax exposure live and play in California (San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers), followed by New Jersey (home to the New York Jets and Giants). Even players on the Baltimore Ravens, Minnesota Vikings, and Green Bay Packers pay more taxes than the Patriots.

The differential can be huge. For example, a player making $10 million on a California team pays about $1.3 million in taxes -- about $400,000 more than a Patriots player making the same amount in Massachusetts.

But these days, money can't buy love with this Patriots team.

"Does that mean that New England would have signed [All-Pro wide receiver] Brandon Aiyuk without a millionaires tax? I don't know. He wasn't willing to go for more money than the 49ers paid to keep him," said Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at the Tax Foundation. "It would be difficult to say income taxes are going to predict who goes to the playoffs. What you can say is that teams will have a little more capacity to sign the players they want to sign in states with lower income taxes."

At times, it can be hard to understand how a few hundred thousand dollars might make a difference to athletes signing multimillion dollar contracts. But the average pro athlete's career spans less than four years so whatever they earn must last a lifetime, explains John Karaffa, chief executive of ProSport CPA, a Virginia accounting firm that works with about 1,500 professional athletes.

"Taxes are their biggest expense," said Karaffa. "They work with us to try to optimize their tax situation because they're trying to preserve as much as possible while they can, while they're in these peak earning years because it has to last in some cases 50, 60, 70 years."

Karaffa offers some familiar advice for those looking to reduce their tax exposure. At the very least pro-athletes can catch a break on endorsement and investment income by residing somewhere where there is no income tax.

"Live in New Hampshire," he said.

For now, there's only one winner: the Massachusetts budget. The millionaires tax has outperformed initial projections, generating $2.2 billion in revenue for the fiscal year that ended in June 30.

And that has nothing to do with why the Patriots might be looking at a lot of losses this season.

Shirley Leung is a Business columnist and host of the Globe Opinion podcast "Say More with Shirley Leung." Find the podcast on Apple, Spotify, and globe.com/saymore. Follow her on Threads @shirley02186

Shirley Leung is a Business columnist. She can be reached at [email protected].