Posted on 08/01/2012 2:30:10 PM PDT by NYer
Because conservatives are scrooges, the good folks at Americans for Tax Reform have gone through the fine print to find out what our Olympians will have to cough up to the IRS should they be lucky enough to win any medals in London.
Even by the standards of our government, the numbers are insane.
For instance: Americans who win bronze will pay a $2 tax on the medal itself. But the bronze comes with a modest prize—$10,000 as an honorarium for devoting your entire life to being the third best athlete on the planet in your chosen discipline. And the IRS will take $3,500 of that, thank you very much.
There are also prizes that accompany each medal: $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver, and $10,000 for bronze.
Silver medalists will owe $5,385. You win a gold? Timothy Geithner will be standing there with his hand out for $8,986.
So as of this writing, swimmer Missy Franklin—who's a high school student—is already on the hook for almost $14,000. By the time she's done in the pool, her tab could be much higher. (That is, unless she has to decline the prize money to placate the NCAA—the only organization in America whose nuttiness rivals the IRS.)
ATR notes that the real twist of the knife is that most other Olympians won't pay any taxes on their medals because America is one of only a handful of countries which taxes "worldwide" prize income earned overseas.
They did not earn that. Somebody else made that happen. Did they drive on public roads? Gimme!
49 seconds!
No wonder Michael Phelps wasn’t as prepared as he should have been, he didn’t want to win too many golds.
ROFL!
If it were me, I would give the irs the medal and claim whatever value they set on it against future taxes. Let them put it in the bank and write checks on it.
The rest of us paid for those pools these athletes trained and competed in. We were responsible for filling up the pools with water. Regularly, we tested the water, added little chlorine tablets... the swimmers didn't do it. We did!
Is MooseChelle still over there?
Where is she when white people do good?
But that dampens a perfectly good rant.
(Though they shouldn't even have to declare it as income.)
This is such a lie. It is popularly going around. The ‘money’ one gets for the so called win goes straight to the USOC aqnd does not go to the winner. This kind of delusional crap has got to stop
Of course!
Michelle showed up in a $7,000 jacket to meet with Kate. Obama Donates to Himself (Rush Limbaugh weighs in)
Will he be entering that in his Turbo Tax?
“It wouldn’t kill us to have Olympics medal income exempted from income tax, or at least offset by training expenses bourne by the athlete or family.”
Republicans should announce the “Olympic Medal Exemption Law” which exempts olympic medal winners from taxes.
Let Harry Reid kill it in committee.
It was most likely a democrat who thought of taxing Olympic medals. I’m curious, how did they conclude that competing in the Olympics was a source of income and a medal qualifies as income? It probably happened under Clinton since he also signed the double taxation of income for social security. In their own little corrupt world a democrat can skew anything.p>
… or at least offset by training expenses bourne by the athlete or family.
It is expensive. My 9 year old granddaughter is only a level 5, her two outfits this year cost $450 – one for practice and one for competition. Her training is now running around $400 a month. Next year when she moves up to a higher level the cost will go up.
They probably swam in public pools.
Girl begins to cry.
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