[NYer]

swimmer Missy Franklin—who's a high school student—is already on the hook for almost $14,000.

Missy Franklin

[Mikey_1962]

They did not earn that. Somebody else made that happen. Did they drive on public roads? Gimme!

[Slings and Arrows]

<0bama>They didn't win those medals. Somebody else made it happen.</0bama>

[Jonty30]

No wonder Michael Phelps wasn’t as prepared as he should have been, he didn’t want to win too many golds.

[RobinOfKingston]

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.

[kenavi]

There are no special rules for Olympic medalists.

If this is the only money the kids earn, their income tax will be much lower than the highest marginal tax rates stated in the article.

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.

[nascarnation]

Is MooseChelle still over there?

Where is she when white people do good?

[Nifster]

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

[TangoLimaSierra]

Timothy Geithner will be standing there with his hand out for $8,986.

Will he be entering that in his Turbo Tax?

[drypowder]

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>

[popdonnelly]

They think they’re good athletes? Well, there’s a lot of people in this country who think they’re good athletes. What about the roads and bridges? If you’re a good athlete - you didn’t build that.

[Gamecock]

My daughter is a competitive swimmer who has her eye on the 2016 Olympics. (As do all 15 year old competitive swimmers I suppose)

Let’s assume she reaches her goal and wins a medal and has to pay taxes on that medal.

Seems logical that I should be able to deduct all of the various annual costs.

Membership fees for a USA Swim Club: $3500
“Splash Fees” $500
Hotels for away meets: $4000
Travel for away meets: $1400
Training suits: $300
Race suits at $350 each: $1400
Private Coaching $2000
(All prices are estimates as I don’t want to get up and pull out our records.

Cool. $13,100 tax deduction.

[The Truth Will Make You Free]

What a stupid article written by an ignoramus. The article assumes a 25% MARGINAL TAX RATE! For 2011, this would require TAXABLE INCOME IN EXCESS OF $379,150 for a single person!!! That's taxable income, mind you, which is after deductions and exemptions.

With a standard deduction of $5,800 and an exemption of $3,700, the first $9,500 of income is tax-free. The next $8,000 of income is only taxed at 10%, and then the rate only increases to 15% all the way to $34,000.

And if the award money is taxable income, the Olympian can file a Schedule-C and deduct related expenses such as travel, training expenses, etc. By then there's no tax to pay.

How I despise sensational fake lying news articles!