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Tax break for Olympic medalists? 1 guy votes no - what do you think?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by ringer, Sep 27, 2016.

  1. ringer

    ringer Active Member

    Congress just voted on a bill that would give Olympic medalists a tax break on the USOC bonuses they earn for winning medals at the Games. Note: athletes who earn $1 million or more would not get the tax break.

    One Congressman voted no. The comments from NYT readers were overwhelmingly on his side.

    What do you think?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/sports/olympics/american-athlete-tax-break-vote.html
     
  2. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    No, there should be no tax break on the bonuses.
     
  3. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Yeah, I don't get it.
     
  4. SpeedTchr

    SpeedTchr Well-Known Member

    It's income just like the $25 a week I get for mowing old man Garcia's lawn. Tax it.
     
  5. FileNotFound

    FileNotFound Well-Known Member

  6. JimmyHoward33

    JimmyHoward33 Well-Known Member

    Intellectually, tax it. Why's it different than the award any Joe gets from corporate, or a 1000 yard bonus for an NFL player, or anything else?

    Then again there's a tax breaks for everything under the sun so why the hell not shoot through one more
     
  7. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    If you win an Olympic medal and don't cash in with at least some endorsements, you're doing it wrong. Each Olympic medalist is going to have significant endorsements. Why are we treating them as paupers in need of a tax break? More important, tax breaks should be used as a way to stimulate economies. What economic gains are to be had from this tax break?
     
  8. dixiehack

    dixiehack Well-Known Member

    Eh, not much cashing in for rowers or fencers or modern pentathletes. They might get a few hundred for signing autographs down at the hometown Chevy dealership one Saturday if they're lucky.

    Still though, I don't see the need in a tax break.
     
  9. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    Some members of Congress will be more likely to keep their jobs?
     
  10. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Two things always come to my mind whenever tax-related things come up.

    1) Why can't we just treat everyone equally? If there is going to be an income tax, why can't we just make it a straight income tax. Stop cutting out a gazillion exceptions, one more complicated than the next -- usually in the name of how they are going to induce certain behaviors they think are beneficial (and always getting wrong, because they end up creating problems they didn't foresee). For one thing, you would cut out all of the corruption that has taken hold, of people being able to buy off politicians for legislated tax benefits -- the kinds that have turned our code into a tangled mess that is selectively and unevenly enforced (based on political grudges). And for another, it would make compliance so much easier and save billions of dollars. We waste so much money that could be used way more productively because of this mess we have created.

    2) When did this notion take hold of someone not wanting to hand over their income or wealth in taxes make them a bad person or a criminal or somehow suspect? At worst, if you use that tangled tax code we have to minimize your tax burden (to zero if you are able to), all you have done is act within the shitty tax code and held onto YOUR money. I know others disagree, but to me there is no virtue in handing over what you have earned to some authority that figuratively holds a gun to your head. Why is that virtuous? Especially if you are like me and see budgets of trillions of dollars of runaway bureaucracy, special-interest corruption, interest on runaway debt and unsustainable entitlement schemes that have gotten out of control, being what you are being forced to fund. The populist blather that has led to this notion of "pay your fair share" is beyond me. There is no "fair share," unless you start off from the vantage point of the mob having a claim on what others have earned. And there aren't enough rich people, anyhow, to demonize and pick the pockets of for the mess we have already created. The rhetoric reminds me a bit of Orwell's 1984 where they created a perpetual war to distract the public from reality. We sure have come a long way from the Stamp Act in the mid 1700s, when being forced to pay a tax actually brought about revolt and played a part in leading to a revolution.
     
  11. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    Because the people who influence the people who write the laws, and the people who help people navigate the laws, would have to go find something else to do?
     
  12. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Taxes are the price we pay for living in a civilized society. You want tax-free nirvana, go live in Somalia.
     
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