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Olympic athletes pay the IRS for winning gold

Olympic athletes pay the IRS for winning gold

Did you really think the IRS would let an American acquire gold without taxing it?

Americans who win bronze will pay a $2 tax on the medal itself. But the bronze comes with a modest prize—$10,000 as an honorarium for devoting your entire life to being the third best athlete on the planet in your chosen discipline. And the IRS will take $3,500 of that, thank you very much.

There are also prizes that accompany each medal: $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver, and $10,000 for bronze.

Silver medalists will owe $5,385. You win a gold? Timothy Geithner will be standing there with his hand out for $8,986.

Americans for Tax Reform notes that most other Olympians won't pay any taxes on their medals because America is one of only a handful of countries which taxes "worldwide" prize income earned overseas.

Sen. Marco Rubio introduced a bill today that would eliminate the federal government's tax on Olympic medals, saying the tax is just another way the government tries to punish hard work.

“Our tax code is a complicated and burdensome mess that too often punishes success, and the tax imposed on Olympic medal winners is a classic example of this madness,” the Florida Republican said.

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