Posted on 09/14/2010 7:26:26 AM PDT by tlb
On the premiere of The Oprah Winfrey Show's final season, the talk show queen announces she will take the 300 members of her studio audience to Australia on John Travolta's jet.
"After all this really is my 25th season...my last chance to do something really big...And if you want to take along the ultimate viewers, where would I most want to go...Maybe I should take all of you to the other side of the world. We're going to Australia... We're going to Australia..." Cheering...
Say Hello to Capt. Travolta!"
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
If you pay the tax a person owes for a gift you gave someone...isn’t that tax paying amount still considered a gift? I don’t see how Oprah paying the tax for people she gave a car, or a trip to, can be right.
All of what you said aside, Johnny Carson was the last truly genuine funny late night talk show host. Not a staged event like Letterman, Leno, and the rest. All of them are pretenders to the throne. Carson was it.
Casa de Travolta. With most of the planes not visible. Not too shabby for a Sweathog.
Not to wade too far into the tax-code weeds, but it depends on what 1099 the "giver" sends to the IRS. The tax on gifts (Gift Tax) is generally paid by the donor. IOW, if you receive a gift from your wildly rich uncle of $1M, then the uncle also owes (roughly) $500K in US federal gift tax. The gift is reported on the uncle's tax return.
Now, Oprah has a choice. She can report the trip to her audience as a "gift" - where she is responsible for the tax, or as a "prize" - this is where the recipient would be liable for the tax. It would be then recorded on the recipient's tax return, and the market value of the prize would be counted as "income".
oh I love Johnny...I miss him
he and Duke, McQueen and so forth
helluva wit and he rarely took political sides
and in an era when things were very very political
That is hysterical. I had never actually seen a picture of it from the air. We have some friends that have a horse-farm not too far from there (it's called Blackstone or maybe Greystone) and we've driven by, but you really can't see much from the road. There's a surprising number of big trees in that part of Florida. I had no idea the planes are actually parked at his house.
I'm not sure I'd want to wake up every morning with the smell of Jet-A in my bedroom.
Thank you for that clarification. So all those dollars people earn on game shows, and all the cars, trips, furniture, etc. that they win...those are “prizes” and the winners pay the tax, right? Just like winning the lottery. That is what I always thought. I doubt the game shows consider them “gifts.” I would be surprised if Oprah pays the taxes for 300 for a flight and stay in Australia. But who knows, she might consider it a worthy cause for her own selfish PR...when so many are out of work and could use that money for food.
Precisely. There was some scandal a few years ago with those Oscar (and other awards shows) gift baskets to the stars. As it turns out, those baskets - some of which were in excess of #100K in value - weren't being reported or claimed by anyone. The IRS got wind of it, and put the kibosh on it. Now, if a star accepts a gift basket, they'll also receive a 1099 for the market-value of the "prize", and thus be liable for the tax on that income.
Oprah was a huge factor in hyping Baraq's candidacy in the early months. Without her promotion, a guy named Baraq Hussein would never have had the support of so many soccer moms.
You are right on. That is the reason she is leaving TV. So many of us who used to watch quit when she showed her true colors. I did watch when she had Sarah Palin on for a few minutes. Oprah’s treatment of Sarah was enough to gag a maggot. It got turned off after just a few minutes.
How could you put up with being around so many misery loving hand wringers?.
“Do you pay tax if somebody lets you ride along on his RV trip to Yellowstone?”
I’m sure the IRS would say that you should.
Rofl. Do you realize you just gave Congress another avenue for taxes? Or if you go to someone's house for dinner. all gifts, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhshhhhhhh. rofl
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.