Pay or No Pay?

[byrd62]

The most popular game shows on TV make tons of money for the show's producers and syndicators or networks.  With game show winnings subject to income tax in the US and in states like California, shouldn't, for example, Sony and King World use some of their profits to pay taxes on the contestants' winnings for Wheel and J!, or FremantleMedia and CBS do the same for TPiR, or Endemol and NBC for DoND?

Either that, or should we lobby Congress to get the laws changed?

[MrBuddwing]

[quote name=\'byrd62\' post=\'125665\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 09:39 AM\']
The most popular game shows on TV make tons of money for the show's producers and syndicators or networks.  With game show winnings subject to income tax in the US and in states like California, shouldn't, for example, Sony and King World use some of their profits to pay taxes on the contestants' winnings for Wheel and J!, or FremantleMedia and CBS do the same for TPiR, or Endemol and NBC for DoND?

Either that, or should we lobby Congress to get the laws changed?
[/quote]


I'm sure it would sound like a terrific idea to the big-money game-show winners, but I think we'd have a hard time selling it to the working stiffs of the world who have to pay taxes on their hard-EARNED incomes.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'byrd62\' post=\'125665\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 08:39 AM\']
Either that, or should we lobby Congress to get the laws changed?
[/quote]
You're joking, right?  If "we" means the members of the board...1800 signatures max on a petition aren't going to mean anything.

If anything, I don't think people 30 and under should have income tax.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'125667\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 07:22 AM\']
[quote name=\'byrd62\' post=\'125665\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 08:39 AM\']
Either that, or should we lobby Congress to get the laws changed?
[/quote]
You're joking, right?  If "we" means the members of the board...1800 signatures max on a petition aren't going to mean anything.

If anything, I don't think people 30 and under should have income tax.
[/quote]Unless you made scads and scads of income in the last year, you won't have that large of a tax liability. I'll do something you didn't do for byrd here, give you a chance to defend your position. Why should the under-30s be free from income tax? We earn the money just the same as our elders.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'125667\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 07:22 AM\']
If anything, I don't think people 30 and under should have income tax.
[/quote]
You have just as many government services available to you as your elders do. Why shouldn't you pay your part?

(I can't wait to hear the answer to this one...)

(Frankly, I think the idea of game-show winnings being considered income is kinda silly, because it's allowing the IRS to double-dip - they're getting a chunk of the money when it comes into King World, and then they're getting a chunk of it again when it goes out to the contestant. But the argument of "well, they're rich, so why shouldn't they pay for it?" doesn't sit with me either.)

[Strikerz04]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'125677\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 01:10 PM\']
[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'125667\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 07:22 AM\']
If anything, I don't think people 30 and under should have income tax.
[/quote]
You have just as many government services available to you as your elders do. Why shouldn't you pay your part?

[/quote]

At the same time, being a broke college student with limited income makes you a little more wary of the fact that every dime counts. Sure, you can have the same amount of services given to you, but then comes the argument of whether you have to pay in for something that you know you either don't need, want, nor have available to you in the first place (the joys of the bureaucracy in this government is endless).

Then again, I'm a little irate about having the State of California take out $650 out of my winnings (can't wait to see how much I owe in Federal...joyous rapture).

-Dave

[Steve McClellan]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 11:10 AM\']Frankly, I think the idea of game-show winnings being considered income is kinda silly, because it's allowing the IRS to double-dip - they're getting a chunk of the money when it comes into King World, and then they're getting a chunk of it again when it goes out to the contestant.[/quote]
Um, the entire existence of the IRS is one of double-dipping. They get a chunk of the money when it comes into the production company; they get a chunk when it goes to the contestant; they get a chunk when the contestant spends it in the store; they get a chunk when the store buys from its suppliers; they get a chunk when the suppliers buy from the farmers; they get a chunk when the farmers pay their employees; they get a chunk when the employees spend their money in the store....

Personally, I think that no one should have to pay income tax.

EDIT: And to be fair to the IRS [My FSM, I can't believe I just typed that], King World does not pay taxes on the money that contestants win, since that's a business expense.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Steve McClellan\' post=\'125679\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 12:15 PM\']
Um, the entire existence of the IRS is one of double-dipping. They get a chunk of the money when it comes into the production company; they get a chunk when it goes to the contestant; they get a chunk when the contestant spends it in the store; they get a chunk when the store buys from its suppliers; they get a chunk when the suppliers buy from the farmers; they get a chunk when the farmers pay their employees; they get a chunk when the employees spend their money in the store....
[/quote]
Fair point.

Personally, I think that no one should have to pay income tax.

That strikes me as an incredibly naive idea that assumes a Utopian population that we simply don't have. But that's another argument for another place.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Strikerz04\' post=\'125678\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 12:14 PM\']
Sure, you can have the same amount of services given to you, but then comes the argument of whether you have to pay in for something that you know you either don't need, want, nor have available to you in the first place (the joys of the bureaucracy in this government is endless).
[/quote]
I can think of many government services that you don't think you'll need until you do in fact need them. (Unemployment benefits come immediately to mind.) And honestly, I don't trust most of the population of this country to make that decision responsibly and intelligently.

[Strikerz04]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'125682\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 02:45 PM\']
[quote name=\'Strikerz04\' post=\'125678\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 12:14 PM\']
Sure, you can have the same amount of services given to you, but then comes the argument of whether you have to pay in for something that you know you either don't need, want, nor have available to you in the first place (the joys of the bureaucracy in this government is endless).
[/quote]
I can think of many government services that you don't think you'll need until you do in fact need them. (Unemployment benefits come immediately to mind.) And honestly, I don't trust most of the population of this country to make that decision responsibly and intelligently.
[/quote]

touche.

[LocalH]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'125682\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 03:45 PM\']
(Unemployment benefits come immediately to mind.)
[/quote]
In some states, unemployment is not paid for by taxes, but from the previous employer's reserve account (which is kept for the express purpose of paying unemployment).

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'LocalH\' post=\'125694\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 03:36 PM\']
In some states, unemployment is not paid for by taxes, but from the previous employer's reserve account (which is kept for the express purpose of paying unemployment).
[/quote]
Nonetheless, it is a government program which has to be administrated and paid for somehow, regardless of where the actual benefit checks come from.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'125677\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 01:10 PM\']
You have just as many government services available to you as your elders do. Why shouldn't you pay your part?

(I can't wait to hear the answer to this one...)
[/quote]
Yeah, well, when you're sitting with $30,000 in student loans, and you have a $6/work study job...every dollar counts.

Maybe when the government is ready to make upper education a priority, instead of an asinine war in Iraq...I'd be willing to change my position.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'125698\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 06:03 PM\']
Yeah, well, when you're sitting with $30,000 in student loans, and you have a $6/work study job...every dollar counts.

Maybe when the government is ready to make upper education a priority, instead of an asinine war in Iraq...I'd be willing to change my position.
[/quote]
I'm speechless.

[Kevin Prather]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'125699\' date=\'Jul 30 2006, 06:11 PM\']
I'm speechless.
[/quote]
Well? Is that all? I'm not taking either side, but I'd like to hear more of a rebuttal than that.