Olympic contestants pay taxes when they win - but not in Britain

Check this out...many countries pay cash awards when their representatives win medals. In the US, it's 25 grand for a gold medal (So I guess Phelps did pretty good last time around, then. Enough to buy a really big bag of weed!).

Italy pays best: $182k for a gold medal. Russia and Ukraine are big spenders, too. No mention of what North Korea does - maybe a medalist gets a sack of rice on his or her return.

Great Britain is one of the countries that doesn't pay squat. At least they're not handed a hefty tax bill as thanks from a grateful nation.

Isn't being an amateur athlete wonderful?

Old55

trimph1


Isn't being an amateur athlete wonderful?

Yeah, Kobe and LeBron are amateurs.  

fegh..I meant the real amateurs...not those poseurs....

Hi,
 
The scariest part is what will happen to some badminton players ... probably found dead somewhere, or sent off to some concentration camp.

Jonbouy


I see, many, aside from the UK, are paid by their nation to win medals which is then classed as taxable income.

The title read like the British were getting some kind of tax break for winning, whereas the fact of the matter is that, as usual, there is no financial advantage at all in being British...

Is that why The Bouy Ltd. is based in the Cayman Islands?

Even the North Koreans have it better than the Iraqi team under Saddam Hussein. His psychopathic boy was in charge of breaking the legs of losing athletes. They were all accompanied to the games by armed chaperons, lest they decide not to come home afterward. Can't imagine why they wouldn't.

At least British athletes have the option of cashing in with endorsements, which is where the real money is. According to this, Chinese tennis player Li Na will make $42,000,000 from endorsements. That's serious money in China. No Brits on the list, but surely there's at least a beer deal for somebody. Not a multi-million dollar ad deal, just free beer.



Update: at least one British athlete, Jessica Ennis, is cashing in - with a Jaguar endorsement, no less. At £1,000,000 this year she's almost caught up with Kobe Bryant's bling budget.