Did you know that our US athletes can earn prize money for winning Olympic medals? $25,00 for a gold, $15,000 for a silver and $10,000 for a bronze. Good for them; they certainly deserve it. It wouldn’t bother me at all if they earned 10x that amount for the years (or decades) of sacrifice and hard work that they put in to become the best in the world at what they do. Most of us cannot comprehend what it takes to attain that level of excellence.
Now we find out that this income is subject to taxation like any other form of income. And why shouldn’t it be? Any money I make is taxed, as is any money that you make. Why shouldn’t the prize money Michael Phelps makes be taxes as well? Apparently, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., doesn’t agree. In a blatant attempt to gain national attention by pandering to the anti-tax crowd, Rubio introduced a bill yesterday in the Senate that would exempt U.S. Olympic medal winners from paying federal taxes on their medals and prize money earned in the Olympics. Rubio gushed that “Athletes representing our nation overseas in the Olympics shouldn’t have to worry about an extra tax bill waiting for them back home.”
Give me a break!! It’s not an “extra” tax bill. It’s a tax on earned income; the same tax paid by all of us. This is just another example of our moronic elected officials showboating for the cameras instead of worrying about the important issues we elected them to solve. Let’s hope this bill fails quickly and quietly and they go back to working on something important, like the federal deficit or the tax code.
4 Responses to “Taxes on Performance”
The Grandstand Gold Medal! Timed with major international event all eyes are on, check. Positioning admirable citizens as victims, check. Pandering to patriotism, check. Underestimating the intelligence of voters, (really???) check, check, check, check….
We have proven time and again in this country that it is impossible to underestimate the intelligence of the American electorate.
I didn’t know until yesterday that US athletes are paid for medaling at the Olympics. Good for them. Hard to say they haven’t earned it. But the money is earned income and should be taxed as such. Our politicians need to stop picking winners and losers. At what special interest does the line get drawn? This is why the US Federal Tax Code is over 70,000 pages long and growing. Our politicians are pathetic on both sides of the aisle.
Interesting Greg, thanks for the great advice!