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Exempt Olympians From Taxes On Their Gold Medals?
August 5, 2012
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) has introduced The Olympic Tax Elimination Act, a bill that would exempt U.S. Olympic medal winners from paying taxes on their hard-earned medals. Currently, Olympians who win medals also receive honorariums in the form of cash payments of $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze, with the IRS collecting taxes on these amounts.
“Our tax code is a complicated and burdensome mess that too often punishes success, and the tax imposed on Olympic medal winners is a classic example of this madness,” said Rubio. “Athletes representing our nation overseas in the Olympics shouldn’t have to worry about an extra tax bill waiting for them back home.
“We need a fundamental overhaul of our tax code, but we shouldn’t wait any time we have a chance to aggressively fix ridiculous tax laws like this tax on Olympians’ medals and prize money,” he added. “We can all agree that these Olympians who dedicate their lives to athletic excellence should not be punished when they achieve it.”
The Olympic Tax Elimination Act, would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to eliminate the tax on Olympic medals and prize money won by United States athletes. If enacted into law, the gross income of Olympic athletes “shall not include the value of any prize or award won by the taxpayer in athletic competition in the Olympic Games.” This would apply to prizes and awards received after December 31, 2011.
Comments
13 Responses to “Exempt Olympians From Taxes On Their Gold Medals?”
REGARDING:
“I rather think the rich are doing other things with their money .”
Could be, but what exactly?
If they buy things with their money, they give the makers of those things a market and create jobs.
If they spend it on services, they create jobs.
If they invest it in new businesses, they create jobs (maybe in Lower Slobovia, but still jobs).
If they save it in a bank, the bank loans the money for purchases of houses, automobiles or start-up businesses or to keep businesses from going under — more jobs.
If they pay it in taxes, the government spends most of it paying its workers (lots and lots of jobs) and giving some to others who will spend it on goods, services, whatever — more jobs.
About the only thing you can do with money which won’t create or maintain jobs is to bury it in a hole. It looks like we’d have excess jobs running out our ears by now.
David considering money from afar
That man will do ANYTHING for attention….
Don’t you have some work to do, Rubio?
Wilcox8 You state the rich create jobs. Do you think the CEO of a bank that makes a 250,000 bonus annually invests that money in job producing enterprises? How many jobs has Mitt Romney created with his vast earnings ( he won’t say how much). I rather think the rich are doing other things with their money .
CONSIDERING:
“We need a fundamental overhaul of our tax code, but we shouldn’t wait any time we have a chance to aggressively fix ridiculous tax laws like this tax on Olympians’ medals and prize money,”
So income should be taxed based on how it is earned?
Okay, let’s think of some specifics, not just Olympian.
Doctors save lives. Surely that’s nearly as important as being a good swimmer.
INCOME EXEMPT.
Fire fighters save lives. Surely that’s nearly as important as being a good horseman.
INCOME EXEMPT.
Fast food workers who wash their hands save lives. Surely that’s nearly as important as being a good runner.
INCOME EXEMPT.
Are we seeing a pattern here?
David for nondiscriminatory tax structures
(unless I personally benefit, of course)
These athletes should not be given an exemption as Rubio suggests. They are no different than any other American worker. If our Great Senator really wants to be fair…..why not push for a “flat tax” with no exemptions for EVERYONE! I appreciate all the athletes and their efforts and I doubt any of them live at or below the poverty level.
@ Jimbo, that’s a great idea. Let them have say, the first 3 medals or something similiar tax free. Everyone is just looking at the big time winners that are screaming no to this proposition. There’s no doubt Phelps doesn’t need a tax break, but for those they don’t get milions in endorsements and sacrifice so much for their country deserve some kind of break.
For every Michael Phelps, there are 10,000 lesser known olympians that took off from school and work and sacraficed to basicly serve their country. Winning a medal does’nt guarantee a lifetime of leisure. The prizes should be thought of in the same manner as a scholarship. Sure, Gabby Douglass is now a millionaire and hers and Phelps endorsement dollars will be taxed at whatever the IRS mandates. The Gold medal in Archery or Equestrian will bring zip in the endorsement field. I say, Rubio is right. These athletes (for the most part) can begin paying their taxes next year. In Phelps case, winning 18 Golds, tax all the ones that came after the first one. They’ve not been doing all the practice and training over the last few years only to glorify themselves, they’ve been doing it to be the best possible representatives of the U.S.A.
Many, but not all, of the US medalists will become very wealthy people, primarily from advertising and media marketing. Senator Rubio’s proposition is an emotionally-driven and fiscal “tax cut for the wealthy” ploy in an election year. Don’t be fooled. It’s red, white, and blue emotionalism, not fiscal reality.
Everyone wants budgets balanced. Any accountant or budget management analyst will propose the following to accomplish the mission: 1.) Cut budgets, AND 2.) Raise revenues. Both, not just one. At home, that would mean cutting household expenditures, and geting more income into the bank account. Same rule applies for business, same for public operations.
Although Olympic medal and revenue taxation is a molecule in the bucket of overall federal revenue, eliminating the source of revenue is the wrong direction to go for the overall well-being of the nation.
atmoredude….Obviously you do not do tax returns for a living. Our tax system does not tax success, it punishes success by the very tax rate on income brackets. To tax one bracket at 15% and another at 33% or more does in fact punish the extra hardworking people that put in more than 40 hrs a week to BUILD A BUSINESS OWN
THEIR OWN. There should be one and only one tax rate for income,whether one makes 10 million a year or ten dollars a year. Wealthy poeple with money built this country, risking what they had to build railroads, steel mills, shipyards and other industrial giants..Which incidentally made this the greatest nation on earth of all time.
When people invest and take risks they should expect a return on investment, and not to have nearly all of it confiscated under the guise of “success”, thru punitive tax rates. Wealthy people create jobs, and prosperity for those that they employ, raising everyones standard of living. People with money to create jobs (the rich) simply don’t invest like they used to BECAUSE of the exhorbant punish-the-rich tax rates for the successful. They hold on to what money they have, rather than see it all go for taxes.
I do agree with you however regarding the olympic atheletes…..I pay, they pay
Earnings are earnings. The career that Michael Phelps has chose now affords him to not have to work another day in his life. I am working to achieve my goals in life and do not expect to be exempt from paying taxes. He should also have to pay taxes on all his earnings. That’s just the way it goes. Doesn’t matter that he’s an Olympian representing the U.S. You’d be crazy to think otherwise. If you don’t want to accept the responsibility of paying the taxes, don’t accept the medal. It’s not a “gift” it’s something you earned! Simple as that. No cherry picking bs!!
I, along with millions of other hard-working Americans would want to stand in line for such exemption. And this guy wants to be VP — we are in trouble!
Rubio states…”Our tax code is a complicated and burdensome mess that too often punishes success…”
Rubio must be an idiot…our tax code is designed to tax success…if you aren’t successful, you have nothing to tax. If Congress exempts the Olympians earnings, then I expect them to exempt my earnings as well. The Olympians EARNED these medals and therefore it is not “prizes and awards”…they didn’t win a drawing.
Baloney to Marco. The “medalists” are more deserving of keeping their money than the people working the registers at Walmart, Grocery Advantage, etc.? This is called “cherry picking” and it is un-American. Shame on our pols for doing this again. Shame on Marco for behaving like a Democrat, really.