IRS spoils the party....

POSTED BY: est120
UPDATED: Thursday, September 23, 2004 04:29
VIEWED: 2040
PAGE 1 of 1

EST120

Thursday, September 23, 2004 12:34 AM

okay, i will admit, i do not know much about oprah winfrey and her talk show. still, when she gave away cars to all her audience members the other week, i thought it was pretty nice. of course, i forgot (and a CNN story kindly (sarcasm here) reminded me) that all the lucky winners will now have to claim the value of the car as income and pay income tax on it for the 2004 calendar year. of course, this is just like any contest winnings like game shows or the lottery, but what about if you do not even KNOW you were entered in this contest? a contestant on a game show or a person buying a lottery ticket has some level of expectation for winning (albeit small and in the case of the lottery, infinitesimally small) but someone receiving a "gift" does not expect to be given anything. it is not exactly the same thing, but should we be paying taxes on christmas gifts and birthday presents too?

anyway, just venting a little.

"it is past."
-me

HENDLEFE

Thursday, September 23, 2004 12:46 AM

Did you win a pontiac?

YT

Thursday, September 23, 2004 3:45 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Hendlefe:
Did you win a pontiac?

Oooo, that's cold.

Keep the Shiny Side Up

JEBBYPAL

Thursday, September 23, 2004 4:29 AM

Actually from what I heard was that the dealer donating the cars was paying tag licence costs etc....possibly that includes taxes...or if not, certainly eases the costs enough that within a year the folk ought to be able to find the dough to pay for it...or use the car as collateral to borrow it

The Strawberry Monkey who defends tight pants everywhere!