“Our Olympian and Paralympic athletes should be worried about breaking world records, not breaking the bank, when they earn a medal,” said Schumer. “Most countries subsidize their athletes; the very least we can do is make sure our athletes don’t get hit with a tax bill for winning. After a successful and hard fought victory, it’s just not right for the U.S. to welcome these athletes home with a tax on that victory. We worked hard to pass a bill that would exempt athletes from these tax penalties in the Senate, and now I’m hopeful that this bill will earn strong bipartisan support in the House and quickly become law.”
According to a 2014 report by NBC News, the U.S. Olympic Committee awards cash prizes to medal winners when they place in Olympic events: $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze. However, because the money is considered “earned income abroad,” the monetary value of the Olympic medal is therefore subject to federal taxation.
Schumer said it is unfair to tax the winnings of these medalists who work hard year-round to represent their country on the world stage and achieve victory. Schumer argued that the U.S. tax system should recognize the sacrifices made by our Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
While obviously work needs to be taxed to some degree to pay for a functional society, taxing the athletes that represented us on the world stage is disgusting and absolutely should be done away with. You can pretty much guarantee each of them spent at least $25,000 in training expenses over the 4 years they trained for the games, so make it a tax write-off if it really must be.
Don't forget, entrepreneurs often represent their nation on Global stages, sometimes spend hundreds of thousands of their own money on startup costs and government fees and to pass government regulations, work hard with little to show for it often times for years and provide jobs and economic benefit to millions of their fellow citizens.
Lest we not discriminate.
He's laying the groundwork to decrease taxes on wall street and increase taxes on the lazy "middle-class" in support of Hillary's agenda.Without the slightest bit of self-awareness or irony
smh.
I miss the days when Olympic athletes were amateurs and didn't take any money. That's what made the 1980 Miracle on Ice so miraculous.
What made it an easy sell was the suspicion that athletes from certain Eastern Bloc nations were de facto professionals anyway: They were supported full-time by their governments to train and compete. So, by the end of the 1980s, the move toward professionalization of the Olympics had gained full steam.
In the most famous example of the inflexibility of the Olympic organizers, Jim Thorpe, perhaps America's finest athlete of all time, had his gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics stripped, and his achievements nullified, because he had once accepted small amounts of money for playing semi-pro baseball during his college summers. It broke his heart. The medals were reinstated in 1983 -- 30 years after his death, 30 years after the moment could have given him any comfort.
They were not ameteurs in many nations - they were paid to play and practice making them professional by definition.
What changed the Olympics forever - CNN.com
He's laying the groundwork to decrease taxes on wall street and increase taxes on the lazy "middle-class" in support of Hillary's agenda.
Which is the exact opposite of Hillary's actual policy proposals. Obama raised taxes on the top bracket while keeping the rates for the middle class and Hillary will do the same thing. When has any politician advocated higher tax rates for the middle class?
I miss the days when Olympic athletes were amateurs and didn't take any money. That's what made the 1980 Miracle on Ice so miraculous.
Yes, all those heirs and hedge fund managers are working very hard for their nation... lolsmh.
From 1965 through 1980 the middle class federal income tax rates (both average and marginal) went up.
Historical Federal Income Tax Rates for a Family of Four | Tax Policy Center
From 60 Minutes interview
The Battle Over Taxing The Rich
"In 1985, the top five percent of the households, wealthiest five percent, had net worth of $8 trillion, which is a lot. Today, after serial bubble after serial bubble, the top five percent have net worth of $40 trillion," he explained.
"The top five percent have gained more wealth than the whole human race had created prior to 1980." (David Stockman)
They went up along with the growing prosperity of the middle class which ended with Reagan. Now 47% pay no income tax and still can't make ends meet. That is the story. Taxes did not destroy the middle class, income stagnation did and that started with Reagans drastic tax cuts on the wealthy. That's when the hoarding began.
Without the slightest bit of self-awareness or irony
smh.
It is quite seldom that work is taxed as such. What is usually taxed in connection with labor is income.
Yes, all those heirs and hedge fund managers are working very hard for their nation... lol
...During most of the 1900s, the hours of work declined for most American men. But around 1970, the share of employed men regularly working more than 50 hours per week began to increase. In fact, the share of employed, 25-to-64-year-old men who usually work 50 or more hours per week on their main job rose from 14.7 percent in 1980 to 18.5 percent in 2001.
This shift was especially pronounced among highly educated, high-wage, salaried, and older men. For college-educated men, the proportion working 50 hours or more climbed from 22.2 percent to 30.5 percent in these two decades. Between 1979 and 2002, the frequency of long work hours increased by 14.4 percentage points among the top quintile of wage earners, but fell by 6.7 percentage points in the lowest quintile. There was no increase at all in work hours among high-school dropouts.
As a result, there has been a reversal in the relationship between wages and hours. In 1983, the most poorly paid 20 percent of workers were more likely to put in long work hours than the top paid 20 percent. By 2002, the best-paid 20 percent were twice as likely to work long hours as the bottom 20 percent. In other words, the prosperous are more likely to be at work more than those earning little...
.,....which is what is being taxed here.....
.... Did you read the OP?Exactly. And it is quite another thing than taxing work hard or otherwise.
Yes, all those heirs and hedge fund managers are working very hard for their nation... lol
You think the top 20% are "rich?" How cute.
To some extent that is true but that was aided by more immigration, increased cost of higher education and housing, more "welfare" (alternatives to work) and offshoring of jobs.
Don't forget, entrepreneurs often represent their nation on Global stages, sometimes spend hundreds of thousands of their own money on startup costs and government fees and to pass government regulations, work hard with little to show for it often times for years and provide jobs and economic benefit to millions of their fellow citizens.
Lest we not discriminate.
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