I did not know that Olympic medalists received $ prizes.--- $25K for each gold medal.
No wonder Michael Phelps took the year off after the 2008 Olympics !
How did I come upon this ?
Well, Democrat Barrack Obama and Republican Paul Ryan
BOTH DO NOT want to tax this prize money
NPR
Jacob Goldstein
8/8//12
Should We Tax Olympic Prize Money?
Quote:
The basic economic idea: Taxes should be as simple as possible.
A $25,000 prize the U.S. Olympic Committee pays you for winning
a gold medal should be taxed exactly the same as $25,000
a restaurant pays you for washing dishes.
(This isn't a comment on whether taxes should be high or low.
It's only to say that, whatever the rates are, they should be applied consistently.)
The tax code is such a mess because Congress makes all these special exceptions.
They decide, say, that income you get for winning a gold medal should be
treated differently than income you get for washing dishes.
Any one exception seems reasonable.
(Where's your Olympic spirit? Of course we should waive the taxes on our Olympic champs!
It's not that much money anyway.)
But over time, these exceptions — which we call "loopholes" when we want them to seem bad — add up.
<snip>
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But of course, the Republicans DO see a major difference between
income earned via interest and dividends and income from hourly wages. 
.