Win Olympic Gold, Pay the IRS U.S. Olympic medal winners will owe up to $9,000 to the IRS

ATR ^ | 08/01/2012 | Hugh Johnson

[SeekAndFind]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — While 529 hardworking athletes proudly represent the United States in the 2012 Olympics, any medals and money they earn wearing red, white and blue will be taxed by the IRS. According to research done by the Americans for Tax Reform Foundation, U.S. Olympic athletes are liable to pay income tax on medals earned and prizes received at the London games.

American medalists face a top income tax rate of 35 percent. Under U.S. tax law, they must add the value of their Olympic medals and prizes to their taxable income. It is therefore easy to calculate the tax bite on Olympic glory.

At today’s commodity prices, the value of a gold medal is about $675.  A silver medal is worth about $385 while a bronze medal is worth under $5.

There are also prizes that accompany each medal:  $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver, and $10,000 for bronze.

So how much will U.S. Olympic medal winners have to pay in taxes to the IRS?

			Medal Tax		Prize Tax		Total Tax Burden
	Gold		$236		$8,750		$8,986
	Silver		$135		$5,250		$5,385
	Bronze		$2		$3,500		$3,50

American gold medal winners will pay the IRS up to $8,986. Silver medal winners will pay up to $5,385. Bronze medal winners will pay up to $3,502.

It gets even worse. Not only do our Olympic athletes have to pay taxes on their medals and prizes – chances are their competitors on the field will face no such taxation when they get home. Because the U.S. is virtually the only developed nation that taxes “worldwide” income earned overseas by its taxpayers, our Olympic athletes face a competitive disadvantage that has nothing to do with sports.

[Smokin' Joe]

And if you don’t like it then Shut UP and pay your income taxes.

There are more than just the two choices.

If it wasn't for the leviathan that would have to be created to administer a prebate that could all be eliminated by just not taxing food, health care, primary housing and the energy to heat/cool it, I could support the idea.

I'm all for eliminating the income tax (repeal the 16th), and replacing it with a 10% sales tax on all but the above items, then shrink government to fit the budget.

[TYVets]

It’s obama’s birthday today.

I am going to Chick-fil-A later today.

Do you think I will see him there celebrating his b'day?

[newgeezer]

... Well, just as I pay my income taxes, they can pay theirs.

So, if I had to find something interesting about this story, I didn’t know how much the medals and prizes were worth until now.

Anyone shocked, dismayed or otherwise upset by the simple fact that Olympic athletes have to pay income tax like everyone else is probably similarly affected by learning that the Romneys pay “only” so much tax on their huge income (as if to imply anyone should or would pay more than the law requires).

Moving on...

[cherokee1]

Silver medals-—550 grams-—that’s well over one pound and is one heavy medal? It’s about 28 grams per OZ, call it 20 OZ’s. With silver at 27 bucks/ oz that would be well over 500 bucks just for the silver? Maybe “grams” is “grains”?-———Maybe the trophys come with hernia belts which will no doubt be taxed also? As medical devices Under Obamuzziecare?

[FewsOrange]

Is there any evidence that an Olympic medalist has been taxed on the commodity value of a medal in the past?

[Atlas Sneezed]

As they aren’t employed by the Olympics, they are contractors. As contractors, ALL their expenses associated with earning the awards is tax deductible. I doubt if any of them have under $50,000 in expenses so far this year, the real successful athletes, several times that.

---

Shhh! Don’t inject truth and reason into this issue. People are having too much fun with it!

[Hostage]

> “There are more than just the two choices.”

Duh....never thought of that. I must be retarded. But I know one thing, for those that study tax history, tax policy, and who have read or talked to those that authored the FairTax legislation, to such people three is only ONE choice, because all other choices stink.

> “If it wasn’t for the leviathan that would have to be created to administer a prebate that could all be eliminated by just not taxing food, health care, primary housing and the energy to heat/cool it, I could support the idea.”

Boy are you ever misinformed. I can see you have not even read the HR 25 proposed legislation. Let me put it in context, the legislation for the new tax code is about 128 pages long compared to tens upon tens upon tens of thousands of pages of Income Tax Code and associated regulations. There is no excuse for not having read the FairTax code. It is simple, inspirational, brilliant in its simplicity. It has passed every Constitutional check and test. What I am saying is it obvious to me that you have not read the legislation. It is obvious to me that you picked up what opinion you have by reading others who malign it, slander it and try to create confusion about it.

The FairTax Rebate provision is one of brilliant parts of the code. It is simple, CANNOT BE MANIPULATED by Congress for different interest groups. I will answer why later.

The REBATE is a statement of the following fact:

IN A FAIRTAX AMERICA, THERE ARE NO FEDERAL TAXES ON INDIVIDUALS BELOW THE LEVEL OF ESSENTIAL LIVING.

The level of essential living is uniformly calculated for all of America as the federal poverty line and has been calculated by a well-worn seasoned means tested formula for decades.

All the Rebate does is to make sure no one except foreigners pays taxes on the essentials of living.

What can Congress do with the Rebate? They can raise it but they must raise it uniformly for every qualified person because of the Uniformity Clause of the US Constitution. This is the same clause that is used to set the FICA tax at the same rate for every working person on payroll in America.

Now why can’t Congress manipulate it for different groups? Because without the 16th Amendment they must administer a tax uniformly. If they jigged different rebates for different constituencies, they would be taxing some groups less than others and the US Constitution will only allow that if the 16th Amendment is in effect. It won’t be in effect under the FairTax.

The Rebate is the SAME FOR EVERYONE. All it does is ensure no one pays taxes below the poverty line. Congress can raise the poverty line threshold and that’s fine with me as it means I pay less tax at the retail register. But if they increase the Rebates for everyone (tax cut), then they have less revenue for federal government and that is a good thing.

Now are you starting to see how the Rebate is brilliant and wanted? The Rebate is a TAX CUT!

And how easy is it to administer the Rebate? It’s easy for the Federal Government to do it. They have already done it in the last years of GW Bush. They returned 144 million checks of tax rebates for ‘stimulus’. Remember that? Yeah, it’s easy for governments to print and cut checks and send them out. The Rebate will not be a problem.

Remember the Rebate is a RETURN OF TAXES PAID AT THE RETAIL REGISTER so that no one is taxed below the poverty line. Makes perfect sense to me.

>”I’m all for eliminating the income tax (repeal the 16th), and replacing it with a 10% sales tax on all but the above items, then shrink government to fit the budget.”

Again if you had read the FairTax Code in the legislation you would understand that it is set at 14% of all retail sales with a kicker of 9% to keep the government from sinking. Now we may not like the way that sounds but we will like it once we understand why the authors wrote it that way TO BEGIN WITH.

The reason it is set at 14% + 9% is because it will never pass if it sinks the government and all the entitlements. For those of us that cry CUT THE SPENDING, the FairTax cuts the spending, how? Every year Congress must vote on the rate; every year. That means every year we see if Congress is voting to cut our taxes or raise them. IT’S TRANSPARENT. WE FINALLY GET TO SEE WHAT THE FRICK THEY ARE DOING WITH OUR LIVES AND FREEDOM.

So that’s why there is the 14% because that is the target. The aim is to cut the rate from 14% + 9% to just 14%.

The FairTax is brilliant. All the political fights have been anticipated and the legislation was written to win those fights. The only thing that remains is to educate the public and apparently you have swallowed democrack education that the Rebate is somehow an entitlement, it is not.

Congress is a fight. It is about who tells the most convincing lies or whether truth prevails. For those carrying the FairTax is like a football ball carrier having to dodge, duck, weave, jump and break into the open. Every tax reform proposal will be tackled and stomped on by the asshats in the District of Corruption. But the FairTax wins all the debate points; every one of them.

But you have been used as a tool by the left who have misinformed you and others like you that the FairTax Rebate is Bad for America. I call BS!

THE REBATE IS A TAX CUT! AND IT IS UNIFORMLY APPLIED MEANING IT IS THE SAME FOR EVERYONE! AND IT CAN’T BE MADE DIFFERENT FOR DIFFERENT GROUPS!

[Smokin' Joe]

Yeah, it’s easy for governments to print and cut checks and send them out. The Rebate will not be a problem.

Once. It won't be a problem. By the second time, people will have moved, died, addresses change and come to the age of majority. Wow. All those changes will, of course automatically update so the addresses on the checks are right, they don't get sent to dead people, etc, and we won't need an enormous bureaucracy larger than the IRS to keep track of that--because it must be done for everyone, not just the people who file.

I have an idea which will allow cutting the size of government, will reduce the deficit, will save millions on postage and handling and printing costs. Don't tax the essentials in the first place.

Don't issue checks at all (wow, no opportunity for fraud there, no huge agency to issue p/rebate checks, huge savings on printing, envelopes, and postage, et cetera!).

You don't have to refund what you don't collect, and if you don't collect it in the first place it stays where it belongs--in the pockets of the people who made the money.

I don't have to read the bill to realize that sending checks to every adult in America even once a year is expensive. I'm own a business, and I know how to cut expenses.

If you can't see that, If you can't tell me just why you think collecting money to hand it back out again to the same people is a good idea (unless the FedGov is intending to take a cut), then maybe the idea sucks.

As I said, I'm all for a consumption tax instead of an income tax. The limitations I'd put on what's taxed don't tax the things the rebate would allegedly refund the taxes on, as well as remove any need for a 'rebate', any need for an entire agency to issue checks and keep up with address changes and ferret out fraud, and the expenses of printing, stuffing envelopes, postage, and processing hundreds of millions of checks. If the objective is efficiency, cost savings, and reducing the size of Government, it is a start.

If you can't see that, you're beyond rational discourse on the topic.

[Smokin' Joe]

Wrong ounces. Precious metals are measured in Troy Ounces. A Troy Ounce is 31.1034768 grams. 14.583 Troy ounces to the pound (453.6 grams).

Yes, an ounce of gold is heavier than an ounce of feathers...

[Monorprise]

And they diden’t even earn the medal in the U.S.A. How can that possibly be just taxing income in anther land?