Winning the gold may mean writing a big check for winning any medals during this year’s Olympics.
The United States, like many other countries, offer their Olympians prizes for placing during the games. For a gold medal the paycheck is $25,000, silver gets $15,000, and bronze $10,000. It isn’t all for keeps, however, as Yahoo reports, depending on what tax bracket an individual is paying will determine how much of that money they hand back to the government. The bill can go up to as much as $10,000 for a gold winner.
The Hill reports that last Tuesday Rep. Blake Farenthold of Texas proposed that this particular tax be exempted from the athletes and has gained widespread support. If passed, the exemption would qualify for this year.
During the last presidential campaign, both Republican Mitt Romney and President Obama were in support of the exemption that came up in the Senate, according to Fox News.
If the exemption does not go through, the athletes could face giving up anywhere from 10 percent of their prize to almost 40 percent of their prize to the government.