Tax Olympian Winners or Not

Did you know that U.S. Olympic winners receive cash for winning the Gold, Silver or Bronze medals?  Well they do and some politicians want them exempted from paying taxes on those winnings.

As I stated Olympic athletes who win medals also win cash.  How much:

• $25,000 for gold
• $15,000 for silver
• $10,000 for bronze

The winnings are paid for by the United States Olympic Committee.

The maximum possible "victory tax" on the bonus for each medal, using the top tax rate of 39.6% for the nation's highest earners, according to Americans for Tax Reform is:

• For Gold $9,900
• For silver $5,940
• For bronze $3,960.

Obviously Olympic athletes in the lower tax brackets would owe less.

They also have to pay taxes on the amount of the precious medal in each medal. Currently gold is worth approximately $600 and silver about $300, the cost of the bronze medal is very little.

There was a bipartisan push in the Senate to exempt the Olympic athletes from paying taxes on their winnings.  This year Senator John Thune, Republican from South Dakota and Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat from New York, sponsored a bill to eliminate taxes on Olympic and Paralympic athletes’ winnings.  It passed in the Senate but has stalled in the House.

Now why do they believe they should not have to pay taxes when the rest of us must pay taxes on everything we earn or win?  If we win money in the lottery or casino we must pay taxes on those winnings, how are Olympic athletes’ any different.

It appears that some politicians want to once again choose the winners and losers when it comes to paying taxes here in America.

Does that sound like the American way, well I guess it does these day’s does it not?

By the way, a little fun fact for all of you, according to Celebrity Net Worth Michael Phelps is worth approximately $55 million.   His Olympic tax bill would amount to approximately $55,440.  He could probably afford to pay his tax bill.