Author Topic: Taxes on Game Show Winnings (Read 8889 times)

BMaurice06 · « **on:** December 02, 2008, 08:43:05 PM »

I listened to Steve Beverly on Stu's Show day before Thanksgiving, and he believes that taking the tax off game show winnings will at least be some help in stabilizing the economy. My question is, will Barack Obama and his team go for that idea right off the bat or will there be some opposition in the upcoming Congress? Y'all must know how the political cesspool of Washington, DC goes.

PYLdude · « **Reply #1 on:** December 02, 2008, 10:58:31 PM »

Why does this keep coming up?

gaubster2 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 02, 2008, 11:10:49 PM »

[quote name=\'BMaurice06\' post=\'202720\' date=\'Dec 2 2008, 05:43 PM\']
I listened to Steve Beverly on Stu's Show day before Thanksgiving, and he believes that taking the tax off game show winnings will at least be some help in stabilizing the economy. My question is, will Barack Obama and his team go for that idea right off the bat or will there be some opposition in the upcoming Congress?
[/quote]

No.

/Is that too short of a reply?

BrandonFG · « **Reply #3 on:** December 03, 2008, 12:43:24 AM »

[quote name=\'gaubster2\' post=\'202734\' date=\'Dec 2 2008, 11:10 PM\']
No.

/Is that too short of a reply?
[/quote]
No.

TLEberle · « **Reply #4 on:** December 03, 2008, 12:55:46 AM »

[quote name=\'PYLdude\' post=\'202732\' date=\'Dec 2 2008, 07:58 PM\']Why does this keep coming up?[/quote]Because it's an easy way to rack up moar posts without contributing anything useful in terms of content, given that you don't have to actually engage any synapses to say "Do you think person X will do thing Y?"

(No, I don't think our incoming President is going to waste his valuable time worrying about a line of code that will affect a fraction of a percent of taxpayers.)

PYLdude · « **Reply #5 on:** December 03, 2008, 01:03:57 AM »

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'202742\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 12:55 AM\']
(No, I don't think our incoming President is going to waste his valuable time worrying about a line of code that will affect a fraction of a percent of taxpayers.)
[/quote]

Nor should he, considering.

Joe Mello · « **Reply #6 on:** December 03, 2008, 01:41:43 AM »

I'd be willing to wager the amount of taxes the government(s) from game show and lottery winnings is not insubstantial. Not a large percentage, mind you, but enough to be important. If that money goes away, it will have to come from somewhere else. Most likely, "somewhere" is within your wallet. This goes for any other source of tax revenue.

The government pretty much runs on taxes. It's what it does with them that is/should be the bigger problem.

Craig Karlberg · « **Reply #7 on:** December 03, 2008, 03:56:30 AM »

And to further clarify that statement, the part of the tax code that deals with earned imcome has been around since the code itself was established. So, if you remove that aspect of the tax code in regards to game show & lottery winnings, it simply means you'll have to find someplace else to write off those taxes on earned income. However, Obama has bigger fish to fry like what to do with all those lost jobs. Can we please let Obama do his job & not have to worry about issues like this one? Or is that too hard to comprehend?

clemon79 · « **Reply #8 on:** December 03, 2008, 04:04:03 AM »

[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' post=\'202751\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 12:56 AM\']
And to further clarify that statement,[/quote]

<snipped...>

Quote

Or is that too hard to comprehend?

Irony just doesn't run thicker, kids.

TheLastResort · « **Reply #9 on:** December 03, 2008, 07:00:51 AM »

[quote name=\'BMaurice06\' post=\'202720\' date=\'Dec 2 2008, 09:43 PM\']
I listened to Steve Beverly...[/quote]

That was your first mistake.

vtown7 · « **Reply #10 on:** December 03, 2008, 08:09:13 AM »

Maybe I'm missing something, but that last time I checked, I'd be happy to win any game show money, whether taxed or not... because it's more than I started with.

R.

jybt · « **Reply #11 on:** December 03, 2008, 10:59:17 AM »

They had better do it...

I found out from your friends at GSNN that Cheryl Jackson, when she played her game, had a specific goal to donate 100K to an Oprah-sponsored foundation, or something of the type...

and she refused the 172K because after taxes, it wasn't enough.

And then, kaboom.

Do you now see what taxes do to this show? They'd better remove them...stat.

Like it's going to save it...it looks like it's off the schedule for good unless they decide to bring it back.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #12 on:** December 03, 2008, 11:23:35 AM »

[quote name=\'jybt\' post=\'202764\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 10:59 AM\']Do you now see what taxes do to this show? They'd better remove them...stat.[/quote]
Taxes, in and of themselves, don't do anything to this show. (He's talking about DOND, for those of you who didn't follow his original comment). Every contestant comes on the show knowing that taxes are taken out of their winnings. Whether they consider that while they're playing, and whether they actually talk about that consideration aloud, is up to them.

Besides, the statement itself is false. If all she wanted to do was donate $100,000 to a charity, $172,000 would have been more than enough to allow her to do so even after taxes. Like so many other contestants, she had a large sum of money offered to her, decided to risk it, and lost.

[quote name=\'jybt\' post=\'202764\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 10:59 AM\']it looks like it's off the schedule for good unless they decide to bring it back.[/quote]
Certainly one of the more profound statements presented here in a while.

Kevin Prather · « **Reply #13 on:** December 03, 2008, 12:36:09 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'202766\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 08:23 AM\']
Besides, the statement itself is false. If all she wanted to do was donate $100,000 to a charity, $172,000 would have been more than enough to allow her to do so even after taxes.
[/quote]
And please correct me if I'm wrong, which I well may be, but I've always operated under the assumption that money you donate to a charity is tax-exempt. Meaning if you win $105,000, and donate away $100,000 to a charity, you only have to pay taxes on the $5,000 you kept. Is this true, or is there more to it?

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #14 on:** December 03, 2008, 12:54:22 PM »

[quote name=\'Kevin Prather\' post=\'202772\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 12:36 PM\']And please correct me if I'm wrong, which I well may be, but I've always operated under the assumption that money you donate to a charity is tax-exempt. Meaning if you win $105,000, and donate away $100,000 to a charity, you only have to pay taxes on the $5,000 you kept. Is this true, or is there more to it?[/quote]
There's more to it (mostly with regard to limits based on your total income), but essentially you're right, and that's a point that completely eluded me the first time around. That makes the original statement even more wrong.