Should U.S. Olympic medal winners be able to keep all their prize money, rather than paying taxes on it? President Obama thinks so.
Currently, the U.S. Olympic Committee awards $25,000 to gold medal winners, and $15,000 and $10,00 respectively to silver and bronze medalists. That money is taxed as income. A bill introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio would make it tax-exempt.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama supports doing “everything we can to support our athletes,” including making their prize winnings tax exempt, and would sign the bill into law if it came to his desk.
But it's unclear whether Obama and Rubio have considered the effect on the deficit. After all, with Michael Phelps now owning a record 22 Olympic medals, this could start getting expensive.