Democrats to tax Olympic medal winners

Screwed for being a winner

• The Democrat controlled California legislature can't wait to give away other people's money to those with "needs", but the Dems will crush you with taxes for daring to work hard and be a winner.

(CBS News)  -  Winning an Olympic medal is an honor that, barring any controversy, can never be taken away. The same can't be said about the bonus money California-based medal winners earn from the United States Olympic Committee.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a state lawmaker was trying to push a bill that would have given tax-exempt status to those bonuses -- $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze.

More from the Times:

The bill was killed without discussion or explanation by the Senate's appropriations committee during the biannual "suspense file" hearing to decide the fate of bills that would cost money to the state.

The costs, as estimated in a committee analysis, were pretty minor: $100,000 this year and a total of $10,000 in the following two tax years.

Similar efforts to get an exemption for the athletes failed in 2012 and 2014, according to the Times.

Among the Olympians this will already affect -- 23-year-old swimmer Maya DiRado, who already has a gold, silver and bronze in Rio and could win more. Others like fellow swimmers Abbey Weitzeil, a silver medalist; Josh Prenot, another silver winner; and Dana Vollmer, who has a silver and bronze so far in Rio, are also going to be on the hook. So is Alexander Massialas, who became the first American fencer to win a medal in men's foil since 1960 when he took silver last week. The California native is entering his senior year at Stanford.

For the big-name California-based Olympians, like Kerri Walsh-Jennings -- a California native and gold medal favorite in beach volleyball -- and her teammate April Ross, or NBA star Klay Thompson, this probably isn't a big deal. But not every medalist is going to be raking in the endorsement money or has a professional league that gives them large sums of money. This bill would have provided exemptions to the bonuses received by U.S. Paralympians from California, as well.

The USOC lists 124 athletes from the state of the California on their Rio roster, by far the most for any state. Not every athlete on that list resides in California full-time, but a good portion still do.

Other notable Californians competing for medals at the Olympics include: Anthony Earvin (swimming), Allyson Felix (track and field), Alex Morgan (soccer), Meb Keflezighi (track and field) and Christen Press (soccer), among others.

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Democrats:
"How dare you be a winner in life."