And The Medal Goes To...

With the 2012 London Olympics in full swing, I thought I’d use this week to write about an Olympic-themed news story.  Like many, I’m a casual Olympic spectator, and while I know next to nothing about most of the sports or any of the Olympic committees, I do enjoy cheering on team U.S.A with family and friends from the comfort of my living room.  So, when I looked over the Sports section of the newspaper this morning, I saw an interesting headline near the top of the first page about the taxation of bonuses that U.S. athletes receive for winning medals in the Games.  Apparently, the U.S. Olympic Committee rewards North American gold-medal winners with $25,000, silver-medalists with $15,000, and bronze-medalists with $10,000, all of which is taxed, just as any other income is taxed.  But when this information became public, some of our U.S. legislators are calling for the revocation of this law, saying that the athletes who volunteer to represent our country should not be taxed on the rewards they earn for brining glory to our country.  So, where does that leave us?

Well, long story short, we have an income tax, so income needs to be taxed.  This isn’t meant to take anything away from the athletes who work hard to represent our country in an international arena, because that would be doing them a completely uncalled for disservice. However, hardworking people who aren’t world-class athletes have to pay taxes on their income, and that includes performance bonuses, every year.  And when you think about it, every two years, or four years depending on how you look at it, athletes “bring glory to our country” on a gigantic international stage at the Olympic Games, and that’s something special in and of itself.  But, ordinary people also “bring glory to our country” everyday in different ways, ranging from small and unnoticed to sometimes big and newsworthy.  And yet, they are still expected to pay taxes on whatever bonuses they receive.  So, it seems only fair that Olympic athletes should be expected to pay taxes on their bonuses, just like everyone else.  Besides, Olympic athletes have numerous options for tax deductions in things, say travel expenses.