Should U.S. Olympians Have to Pay Taxes on Their Medals?

Olympic Medal? Well Done, Now Pay Your Taxes: Uncle Sam.....

American medal winners at the Sochi Winter Olympics are liable for taxes on the cash earnings they receive form the U.S. Olympic Committee.



Those medals Americans have been winning at the Winter Olympics in Sochi come with a price. Uncle Sam wants his percentage, whether it's gold, silver or bronze.

The U.S. Olympic Committee awards cash prizes to medal winners ─ $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze. But the money is considered earned income abroad and subject to IRS taxation ─ as much as 39 percent.

That's why some politicians have revived a bill introduced in Congress at the time of the Summer Games in London to exempt those Olympic winnings as earnings. The bill never even came to a vote in 2012.

Many other nations do not tax Olympians for their medal prizes and some, such as Britain, don't give their medalists cash prizes at all.....snip~

Olympic Medal? Well Done, Now Pay Your Taxes: Uncle Sam - NBC News


So what say ye? Should the Olympians be Taxed?

It'good they give cash prizes but, they shouldn't be taxed.
What an Olympic gold medal is really worth | WCNC.com Charlotte

100% for wheaties is what I like to see.

granted I'm the only voter. Oh and to answer your questions who is doing the taxing? it's a WORLD event. so it shouldnt be taxed lol

WCH said:

It'good they give cash prizes but, they shouldn't be taxed.
What an Olympic gold medal is really worth | WCNC.com Charlotte

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Heya WCH. :2wave: Funny thing.....Marco Rubio was the one that put forth the legislation in 2012 and then Obama signed onto it. Plus accountants sy they may have a way around it.


According to Americans for Tax Reform, a group supporting the bill, those in the top tax bracket — like skier Ted Ligety, ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White, or any U.S. hockey player — will pay 39.6 percent, or $9,900, on a gold medal — while those in the bottom tax bracket will pay 10 percent, or $2,500, for a gold.

However, accountants suggest there could be a way around the tax question, if Congress does not support the exemption. If an athlete treats his or her sports activity as a business, then related expenses might be deductible. So all of those training expenses, the cost of travel and equipment could be deducted against income.....snip~

A lot of these athletes aren't wealthy, in fact, they can be rather poor. Being an athlete at that level requires ones full attention, generally lots of high end equipment, lots of expensive training, and various other expenses. A lot of these athletes get into debt, since a full-time highly involved job isn't really possible while doing this.

We encourage this behavior and send them to the Olympics to represent the best of our country. So yeah, I don't believe we should tax their winnings.

Your Star said:

A lot of these athletes aren't wealthy, in fact, they can be rather poor. Being an athlete at that level requires ones full attention, generally lots of high end equipment, lots of expensive training, and various other expenses. A lot of these athletes get into debt, since a full-time highly involved job isn't really possible while doing this.

We encourage this behavior and send them to the Olympics to represent the best of our country. So yeah, I don't believe we should tax their winnings.

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Heya YS. Then how do the Brits do it.....they don't pay their athletes? Also would you want to see a special exemption made just for these people? Moreover lets not forget they do get endorsements and sponsors.

Ed Kilgore is a contributing writer to the Washington Monthly. He is managing editor for The Democratic Strategist and a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute.


The Olympic Medal Tax Pander

Sen. Marco Rubio has introduced a bill creating a brand new tax loophole for the stars who are dominating our TV screens this week. The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf explains why this is an idea that is fully as stupid as it sounds:

[T]his is a perfect example of why the tax code is a complicated and burdensome mess. Guys like Senator Rubio stumble upon a category of earning that they regard as being “different,” whether because there are campaign contributions in it for them, or because it advances a larger ideological agenda or, as in this case, because the category of people being taxed are popular. This particular loophole accords with a widespread intuition that the prize money and medals from an Olympic victory are unlike “regular income” that is subject to routine taxes….

But these are bad reasons to create a special exemption. The fact is that prize money from athletic victories is income, and there is no good reason for the government to treat that income differently than the income of all the non-Olympic athletes who earn analogous types of income. Why should Olympic athletes be exempted from paying taxes on their prize money, but not professional golfers, or poker players, or winners of literary prizes, or folks who win the lottery?

It’s a largely unanswerable objection, and Rubio won’t even try, because this is strictly about somebody at ATR getting a clever idea about how to politically exploit the Olympics while reinforcing the idea that taxes are the result of evil liberal hatred of “success.”......snip~

The Olympic Medal Tax Pander by Ed Kilgore | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly

Why shouldn't it be taxed? Because it's warm-and-fuzzy? It is income, isn't it?

Other than the "feel good" aspect, no one has presented an argument for the idea. Though I do like the idea presented above of treating the costs as a business and writing the income off as expenses.

I don't believe any income should be taxed so I obviously support the athletes NOT being taxed.

President Eisenhower would note this post, and disagree .

TurtleDude said:

I don't believe any income should be taxed so I obviously support the athletes NOT being taxed.

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NIMBY said:

President Eisenhower would note this post, and disagree .

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DDE was a big government RINO. I doubt you could discern what his position on its would be given when he was president all our Olympians were strictly amateurs

Absolutely not.

Yet when you posted the exact type of comment to me, I did not come in with a statement saying you couldn't discern something.
In fact, I didn't say anything to your comment, as intended.

TurtleDude said:

DDE was a big government RINO.
I doubt you could discern what his position on its would be given when he was president all our Olympians were strictly amateurs

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You specifically said no income should be taxed, TD.
I don't see any GOP President agreeing with you, let alone the vast majority of Americans .:lamo

NIMBY said:

Yet when you posted the exact type of comment to me, I did not come in with a statement saying you couldn't discern something.
In fact, I didn't say anything to your comment, as intended.

You specifically said no income should be taxed, TD.
I don't see any GOP President agreeing with this, let alone the vast majority of Americans .

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most of those not agreeing with it don't pay income taxes I suspect

have you voted in the poll?

TurtleDude said:

I don't believe any income should be taxed so I obviously support the athletes NOT being taxed.

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I'm good with this idea, but my position is that as long as taxes are done then they should be treated equally, regardless how "feel good" the endeavor was in which they were earned.

TurtleDude said:

most of those not agreeing with it don't pay income taxes I suspect

have you voted in the poll?

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The vote in the poll doesn't have anything to do with our discussion or you being against paying any taxes at all, for all to see TD .

TurtleDude said:

DDE was a big government RINO. I doubt you could discern what his position on its would be given when he was president all our Olympians were strictly amateurs

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We started getting more medals when the Soviet Union broke apart and just about everything but tying your shoes became an olympic sport. I don't know if a bronze in horse dressage, a silver in canoeing, or a gold in synchronized swimming is something to be proud of. Anyway, just because someone chooses to play games for a living doesn't mean they shouldn't pay taxes.

So you're good with sky-rockeding deficits, since you don't believe in taxes.
And the GOP was for cutting Defense until Mr. Obama agreed with them.
Now they waqnt to pork-barrel Defense again, raising taxes.
Against the Rand Paul coalition.
Doing away with Taxes will take care of the Deficit that the GOP is all about, correct?

radcen said:

I'm good with this idea, but my position is that as long as taxes are done then they should be treated equally, regardless how "feel good" the endeavor was in which they were earned.

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MMC said:

Heya WCH. :2wave: Funny thing.....Marco Rubio was the one that put forth the legislation in 2012 and then Obama signed onto it. Plus accountants sy they may have a way around it.


According to Americans for Tax Reform, a group supporting the bill, those in the top tax bracket — like skier Ted Ligety, ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White, or any U.S. hockey player — will pay 39.6 percent, or $9,900, on a gold medal — while those in the bottom tax bracket will pay 10 percent, or $2,500, for a gold.

However, accountants suggest there could be a way around the tax question, if Congress does not support the exemption. If an athlete treats his or her sports activity as a business, then related expenses might be deductible. So all of those training expenses, the cost of travel and equipment could be deducted against income.....snip~

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Here's another way to look at this:
The IOC has decided that a gold medal (which is gold played) must have at least 6 grams of gold and (I'm pretty sure) a silver core. So if your gold plated medal with a silver core weighs out at 8 oz you'd have 6 grams of gold which would be about $260 and 220 grams of silver which would be another $200 or so. I'd have no qualms about claiming that "fair market value" was $500.

Now, if I sold it to someone.....whole different story.

NIMBY said:

So you're good with sky-rockeding deficits, since you don't believe in taxes.
And the GOP was for cutting Defense until Mr. Obama agreed with them.
Now they waqnt to pork-barrel Defense again, raising taxes.
Against the Rand Paul coalition.
Doing away with Taxes will take care of the Deficit that the GOP is all about, correct?

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What does this have to do with the thread topic?

:doh Oh, that's right. Nothing.

:roll:

Napoleon said:

We started getting more medals when the Soviet Union broke apart and just about everything but tying your shoes became an olympic sport. I don't know if a bronze in horse dressage, a silver in canoeing, or a gold in synchronized swimming is something to be proud of.

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you obviously don't know much about those sports do you. While I don' consider SS a sport anymore than ballet, canoeing is an incredibly demanding test of skill, strength and endurance. Dressage is tougher than it looks but I don't believe sports where an animal does most of the work ought to be in the olympics any more than say Moto-cross

but lots of sports I suspect someone like you thinks aren't are incredibly difficult at an olympic level.

TurtleDude said:

I don't believe any income should be taxed so I obviously support the athletes NOT being taxed.

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Yes, I understand, but GIVEN the general state of taxation, why should there be an exempt class of athletes? Either we're all not taxed on income or we're all taxed on income, there's no exception just because you're an Olympic athlete.

newpublius said:

Yes, I understand, but GIVEN the general state of taxation, why should there be an exempt class of athletes? Either we're all not taxed on income or we're all taxed on income, there's no exception just because you're an Olympic athlete.

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I think an award coming from a national agency is different than real income-its more in the nature of a gift

TurtleDude said:

I think an award coming from a national agency is different than real income-its more in the nature of a gift

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Well, the gift are the years of housing, nutrition and attention to your athletic condition generally. The money is most aptly described as a prize and the IRC specifically defines that as income.

Not paying taxes has everything to do with the thread, radcen, since you felt the need to post to TD that you agree with him over not paying taxes.
This is why there's a 16th amendment, because enough Americans hate paying their fair share, not like NIMBY .

radcen said:

What does this have to do with the thread topic?

:doh Oh, that's right. Nothing.

:roll:

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