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The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: BMaurice06 on December 02, 2008, 08:43:05 PM

Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: 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.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: PYLdude on December 02, 2008, 10:58:31 PM
Why does this keep coming up?
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: gaubster2 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?
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: BrandonFG 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.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: TLEberle 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.)
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: PYLdude 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.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: Joe Mello 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.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: Craig Karlberg 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?
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: clemon79 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.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: TheLastResort 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.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: vtown7 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.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: jybt 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.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: Matt Ottinger 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.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: Kevin Prather 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?
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: Matt Ottinger 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.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: clemon79 on December 03, 2008, 01:07:25 PM
[quote name=\'jybt\' post=\'202764\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 07:59 AM\']
They had better do it...

Do you now see what taxes do to this show? They'd better remove them...stat.[/quote]
Or.

Else.

What.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: jybt on December 03, 2008, 01:13:19 PM
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'202774\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 11:54 AM\']
[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.
[/quote]

That's what she had said, and if she knows what the taxes are, she would know how much she needed...

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'202777\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 12:07 PM\']
[quote name=\'jybt\' post=\'202764\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 07:59 AM\']
They had better do it...

Do you now see what taxes do to this show? They'd better remove them...stat.[/quote]
Or.

Else.

What.
[/quote]

Or else someone will end up having a goal of $200,000, get offered 235K with $500,000 / $500, go on because $235,000 is not their goal after taxes, though they would have taken it if it wasn't taxed, and win $500. And the community will go into uproar.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: Joe Mello on December 03, 2008, 01:32:25 PM
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'202774\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 12:54 PM\']There's more to it (mostly with regard to limits based on your total income)[/quote]
This would probably be a good article for the archives, since I'm interested in learning how prize money is awarded.  

But to get back to the stupid point--Cheryl Jackson, as noble as the intentions were, was just like any other player who planned to play to a set goal.  Unfortunately for her, her goal was way too high and she paid for it.  While taxes may have come into play, I believe that a) she probably didn't do the math correctly, b) couldn't take the blinders off to realize that the charity would love $90,000 just as much as $100,000.

Of course the fact of the matter is that this is just another opportunity for jybt to complain about people making the suboptimal play on DoND because they aren't as prescient as he is.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: clemon79 on December 03, 2008, 02:06:38 PM
[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'202779\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 10:32 AM\']
I believe that a) she probably didn't do the math correctly, b) couldn't take the blinders off to realize that the charity would love $90,000 just as much as $100,000.[/quote]
I don't believe for a plug second that she had entirely altruistic intentions behind turning down that deal. At best she said "if I can go another step or two, I can give Oprah her money *and* have a nice chunk for myself." AT BEST.
Quote
Of course the fact of the matter is that this is just another opportunity for jybt to complain about people making the suboptimal play on DoND because they aren't as prescient as he is.
jybt wouldn't know an optimal play on DoND if it bit him in the ass.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: Matt Ottinger on December 03, 2008, 02:25:52 PM
[quote name=\'jybt\' post=\'202778\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 01:13 PM\']
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'202774\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 11:54 AM\']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.[/quote]That's what she had said, and if she knows what the taxes are, she would know how much she needed...[/quote]

Yes, because the one thing we've learned from Deal or No Deal is that all the contestants are smart when it comes to money.

If she was offered $172K, she had enough money to make a $100K charitable donation.  So she kept going for some other reason.  It's really as simple as that.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: Jimmy Owen on December 03, 2008, 02:39:57 PM
The solution is to get more game shows on the air, and thus increase the tax revenue potential. Maybe have a game show called "Bailout" where various corporate heads compete to get loans, etc.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: clemon79 on December 03, 2008, 02:54:38 PM
[quote name=\'jybt\' post=\'202778\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 10:13 AM\']
Or else someone will end up having a goal of $200,000, get offered 235K with $500,000 / $500, go on because $235,000 is not their goal after taxes, though they would have taken it if it wasn't taxed, and win $500. And the community will go into uproar.[/quote]
Correctly, because they would be greedy asshats. Why is this worthy of threats that start with "they had better"?
[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'202791\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 11:39 AM\']
The solution is to get more game shows on the air, and thus increase the tax revenue potential. Maybe have a game show called "Bailout" where various corporate heads compete to get loans, etc.[/quote]
You could use the panel from American Inventor. Let Rick Wagoner explain to Pat Croce and George Foreman why he should get a handout.

"Our next car will cook cheeseburgers in the glovebox."

"I votes yes."
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: Dbacksfan12 on December 03, 2008, 04:55:08 PM
[quote name=\'jybt\' post=\'202764\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 10:59 AM\']Like it's going to save it...it looks like it's off the schedule for good unless they decide to bring it back.[/quote]And now its time for Game Show Forum's FAVORITE game show....Masters of the Obvious!!!
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: Fedya on December 03, 2008, 07:56:47 PM
[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'202791\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 11:39 AM\']
The solution is to get more game shows on the air, and thus increase the tax revenue potential. Maybe have a game show called "Bailout" where various corporate heads compete to get loans, etc.[/quote]
No offense, but wouldn't "Bailout" just be a ripoff of Debt?

(At least it would get Randy another announcing gig.)
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: Speedy G on December 03, 2008, 08:24:57 PM
Quote
No offense, but wouldn't "Bailout" just be a ripoff of Debt?

Sure, but I wouldn't mind just to have those CEO's stand behind scoreboards with their company's debt showing.

/You'd have to shoot the show in HD to get the numbers to fit on the screen
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: Kevin Prather on December 03, 2008, 08:26:14 PM
[quote name=\'Speedy G\' post=\'202826\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 05:24 PM\']
/You'd have to shoot the show in HD to get the numbers to fit on the screen
[/quote]
Made me laugh.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: MikeK on December 03, 2008, 09:16:28 PM
[quote name=\'Speedy G\' post=\'202826\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 08:24 PM\']/You'd have to shoot the show in HD to get the numbers to fit on the screen[/quote]
That's good for the first contestant.  How do you fit the other players' readouts on-screen?
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: chad1m on December 03, 2008, 09:19:53 PM
[quote name=\'MikeK\' post=\'202840\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 09:16 PM\']That's good for the first contestant.  How do you fit the other players' readouts on-screen?[/quote]We'll have to renew the popularity of the lower-third ticker.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: TLEberle on December 03, 2008, 10:43:16 PM
[quote name=\'MikeK\' post=\'202840\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 06:16 PM\']That's good for the first contestant.  How do you fit the other players' readouts on-screen?[/quote]"Does everyone here know how scientific notation?"
Crowd: "Yes!"
"Then it's time to play Corporate Bailout! Executives, this first toss-up is for $1 million off your debt..."
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: DrJWJustice on December 03, 2008, 10:43:25 PM
[quote name=\'BMaurice06\' post=\'202720\' date=\'Dec 2 2008, 08:43 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?  Y'all must know how the political cesspool of Washington, DC goes.
[/quote]

The Perfesser ought to leave public policymaking to politicians and policy analysis to those of us who are professors of political science (or have degrees at any level in the subject) who are trained on how to do it.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: TLEberle on December 03, 2008, 10:48:54 PM
[quote name=\'jybt\' post=\'202778\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 10:13 AM\']That's what she had said, and if she knows what the taxes are, she would know how much she needed...[/quote] This is interesting. You mention her interview with some of the contributors of Game Show News Net. I happened to be present, and got to ask her a few questions. She seemed very nice, and her cause was noble and just. And maybe you're right, that she needed a few thousand dollars more to get to the point where she could donate $100,000 of after tax winnings (and I'm not even sure she had to calculate after-taxes.)

She still closed the little case and said "NOT ENOUGH! NO DEAL!"

What I don't understand is that you seem to be stuck on two things. The first is abdicating all responsibility of the contestants to size up their situation and make a choice based on that. I don't understand that at all. If you have a "goal" of $250,000 and $235,000 comes up on the board, you still can choose to bail if you want, you don't have to soldier on. The other is that you seem to see the game as existing in a vacuum where players always have to play the game exactly as you see it in 20/20 hindsight, otherwise they're greedy or cowardly, depending on the outcome.

The problem is that you seem to be approaching the show as a math problem or thought exercise, and you sound like a complete fool when you do so. (Not that it's going to stop you or cause you to rethink your process, I'm just throwing that out there.)

I am very curious to see if you're actually going to respond with something that makes sense, or if you're just going to stay in your fantasyland.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: DrJWJustice on December 03, 2008, 11:13:46 PM
[quote name=\'jybt\' post=\'202764\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 10:59 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.
[/quote]

If the show going on hiatus will do ANYTHING to get rid of an airheaded reason for you to tell Barack Obama what to do, then I say let it go off the air for good.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: Thunder on December 04, 2008, 02:44:18 AM
[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'202791\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 02:39 PM\']
The solution is to get more game shows on the air, and thus increase the tax revenue potential. Maybe have a game show called "Bailout" where various corporate heads compete to get loans, etc.
[/quote]


C-SPAN had the first episode of this a few weeks ago.

Three CEO's each won hybrid cars to come back to the studio for Round 2 this week.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: tvrandywest on December 04, 2008, 03:49:15 AM
[quote name=\'Fedya\' post=\'202818\' date=\'Dec 3 2008, 04:56 PM\']
(At least it would get Randy another announcing gig.)
[/quote]
You rang??!    ;-)

Back in "the day" I was able to use the now defunct IRS Schedule G which allowed for "income averaging". It eliminated the big tax bite from an unusually good year.

Randy
tvrandywest.com
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: Jumpondees on December 06, 2008, 01:25:25 AM
[quote name=\'PYLdude\' post=\'202732\' date=\'Dec 2 2008, 10:58 PM\']
Why does this keep coming up?
[/quote]

Why does "WHAT" keep coming up?  This topic?  Or the fact that someone still thinks "The Perf" is still relavant?

Yeah, I know.  I'm a day late and a dollar short on this sarcastic response, but better late than never.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: PYLdude on December 06, 2008, 01:29:16 AM
[quote name=\'Jumpondees\' post=\'203023\' date=\'Dec 6 2008, 01:25 AM\']
[quote name=\'PYLdude\' post=\'202732\' date=\'Dec 2 2008, 10:58 PM\']
Why does this keep coming up?
[/quote]

Why does "WHAT" keep coming up?  This topic?  Or the fact that someone still thinks "The Perf" is still relavant?

Yeah, I know.  I'm a day late and a dollar short on this sarcastic response, but better late than never.
[/quote]

Better never than misplaced.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: TroubadourNando on December 07, 2008, 11:20:47 PM
This is a totally random tangent, but I always did have a soft spot for that question to cover your credit card debt that It's Your Chance of a Lifetime had used. I wonder if a similar gimmick for taxes would be possible to develop (or legal)
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: Kevin Prather on December 07, 2008, 11:33:48 PM
[quote name=\'TroubadourNando\' post=\'203125\' date=\'Dec 7 2008, 08:20 PM\']
This is a totally random tangent, but I always did have a soft spot for that question to cover your credit card debt that It's Your Chance of a Lifetime had used. I wonder if a similar gimmick for taxes would be possible to develop (or legal)
[/quote]
Millionaire did it for a week or so. They figured out any tax percentage you would owe, and paid you enough so that after taxes, you were left with your announced prize.
Title: Taxes on Game Show Winnings
Post by: tpirfan28 on December 08, 2008, 08:30:03 AM
[quote name=\'Kevin Prather\' post=\'203130\' date=\'Dec 7 2008, 11:33 PM\']
Millionaire did it for a week or so. They figured out any tax percentage you would owe, and paid you enough so that after taxes, you were left with your announced prize.
[/quote]
I do remember that....H&R Block sponsored it, and I think it was during the week that taxes were due in 2001 (for some reason I remember them paring that promotion with their "Million-Dollar Mission").