I will admit that I am no sports enthusiast! However the uproar over the US "taxing" Olympic medals sounded very suspicious to me. First of all I highly doubted that the actual medals were being taxed ( I don't think they contain that much precious metal). It seems I was correct; please see the Slate article I read on this issue this morning.
What really got me was what a ridiculous political football this has become. Both sides of the political campaign have jumped on a non issue (or is it) to benefit from public sentiment that is running high due to fixation on the entertaining olympic sporting events. As I had assumed, the tax in question is on the additional prize income generated for the Olympian when a medal is won. The tax is not a tax on the object, the Olympic medal. It is not a special tax, but merely the result of earned income. This is not different from taxing a bonus one receives for meeting a sales or performance objective. What a slippery slope to start exempting these earnings from our tax base.
The saddest part of this debate is that I have heard comments form more than one source to the effect that the person speaking is outraged that the US taxes Olympic medals! It really took hold in the American mindset that the Olympians were being penalized for winning! That left cagey politicans from both major parties no choice but to demand an exemption. What is wrong with this picture????
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