Olympic Medalists & Their Tax Bill

Little known fact, it turns out that Olympiads returning with a medal will finish the year with an extra bump in their tax burden. Why you might ask? Well, along with the medal, the IOC also awards honorariums depending on how an athlete finishes.  According to one source, the prize for a bronze medal will give the Olympiad a $10,000 bonus, but the government will take its share of 35%.

Unfortunately, that would be true if the Olympiad was already at the highest tax bracket (such as the USA Men's Basketball Team), but for true amateurs participating in the sport (say, Judo?), they will unlikely be forced to pay the full tax rate. When I was a student on an assistantship, I had made a whopping $16,000 one year, with an effective tax rate of 2%. Needless to say, most Olympic athletes are not paying the full 35%.

But wait, there's a savior in this "mess." Florida senator Marco Rubio (R), who's really a Tea Party candidate disguised with an (R) after his name, has made remarks of having this tax removed from Olympiads' tax bill. While it sounds all fair and well, it's highly illogical, and purely political. For the true amateurs, they aren't paying the full burden, and most likely have other jobs and/or sponsorships to help cover this costs. For the professional athletes at the Olympics (cough, Lebron James), they need less reasons to pay taxes. For those who complain about the tax code being too complicated (which Rubio also admits), this is just one more article in that hefty 73,608 book.