Can’t make this up. Currently, the U.S. government plans on taxing Team USA Olympic gold medal champions $25,000 for their achievements. Silver and bronze medalists get taxed at $15,000 and $10,000 respectively. This makes it seems like where a competitor might place in an event is more of a financial decision than a athletically determined one in that the competitor is thinking “if I slow down a little and settle for silver I can owe $10,000 less in taxes.” It’s ridiculous. The majority of the athletes don’t have huge sponsors like Michael Phelps and aside from that, we should not be punishing those who have worked most of their lives to represent America against the world. At least now they are trying to repeal this nonsensical law. Forbes continues, “As much as I love the Olympics, I apparently don’t love them as much as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). He announced yesterday that he was introducing the Olympic Tax Elimination Act which is intended to exempt U.S. Olympic medal winners from paying taxes on their medals.

As I’ve noted before, U.S. Olympians get paid for their medals: $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze (though we don’t pay as much as many other countries). Additionally, many of the U.S. Olympians earn appearance fees from sponsors; Phelps, for example, earned $1 million in Beijing for breaking Spitz’ record (you can see more about the highest-earning Olympians here). Taxes have already come under scrutiny at the Olympics. This year, under pressure from the athletes, the U.K. provided a temporary exemption for Olympians so that they would not be subject to U.K. income tax…”