2 Guarantees In Life – Death And Taxes…On Olympic Medals

The saying goes "The only guarantees in life are death and taxes." This holds true for even the greatest athletes in the world! Even though the actual Olympic medal is not worth much money, the U.S. Olympic Committee gives a money reward for each medal. A gold medal brings $25,000. Silver medals get you $15,000. And a bronze is worth $10,000. The Weekly Standard, a conservative news magazine, ran the numbers and tabulated that the tax bill on a gold is $8,986, silver is $5,385 and bronze is $3,500. This means in 2008, after Michael Phelps won a record eight gold medals, he owed the U.S. government $71,888 in taxes.

One politician sees the irony of taxing the awards won overseas by our best athletes representing our great country as they compete against the best of the world, and he is lobbying to have the tax on Olympic winnings eliminated.

What do you think - Income is income or they should be tax exempt winnings?