nsbr: taxing olympic athletes for their medals.
 

Help me understand this. The husband came home "You know Obama's making the Olympic Athletes pay taxes on their medals." He's always trying to push my buttons and I'm sick and tired (literally) so it's hard for me to search and decipher right now. Anyone wanna shed some light on this for me? So I can set him a little straight or make the facts more clear.

Thanks!

It's not Obama - it's the US Tax code that taxes everyone on prizes they receive - so the Olympians are taxed on the prize, just as you would be taxed on any prize earnings you receive.

It's being brought up because Sen. Marco Rubio brought a bill to the Senate to exempt them from the tax.

Thats what I was thinking. The Pres doesn't write the US Tax Code. It's mostly all IRS and the big heads in that area right?

It's an across the board tax that has been there a very long time - so the Olympians aren't exempt from it anymore than anyone else. But Sen. Rubio is putting up the bill to exempt them. So no, this one isn't Obama's fault.

And technically the tax is on the honorarium that each athlete gets from the U.S. Olympic Committee when they win their medals.

Many of the college athletes will turn down the honorarium anyway, if they wish to compete in college and retain their amateur status. A college scholarship may benefit them much more than the $25k (minus taxes, of course) they are awarded for a gold medal!

I know Jordyn Wieber has forfeited her eligibility to compete in college since she turned pro

A lot have to do it in order to continue to train at an elite level and have sponsors pay for their travel and support.

I think it comes down to a cost benefit analysis. For some, the returns for going pro will far outweigh those for retaining amateur status. But others, the opposite will be true. At any rate, we can't really blame Obama, since the laws have been around for a long time, and it is Congress that levies taxes, not the executive branch.