Q: Someone told me that the athletes from the Rio Olympics, when they came into the country, had to pay taxes on their gold, silver and bronze medals. I was wondering if this is correct. If so, how much do they have to pay?
—Rick Brinkman, Marietta
A: United States medal winners are taxed both on the money they receive for winning medals and on the value of the medals they won.
It’s been called the “victory tax.”
The U.S. Olympic Committee awards athletes $25,000 for winning a gold medal, $15,000 for a silver and $10,000 for a bronze.
Athletes are required to the claim winnings on their yearly taxes. The tax each athlete owes is based on that person’s overall income and deductions.
A gold medal from this summer’s Olympics was worth about $550 last month, a silver was worth around $300 and bronze medals were about $5.
Q: I’ve seen a huge number of little yellow butterflies flying around the past couple of weeks. A friend says they are migrating. Are they migrating, or is it another kind of behavior? If they are migrating, where are they going?
—Ina Vickers, Cumming
A: They likely are cloudless sulphur butterflies, which migrate through Georgia this time of year.
They are heading to spend the winter in Florida after spending the summer in cooler areas, even as far away as Canada, Joe McHugh, a professor of entomology at the University of Georgia, told Q&A on the News in an email.
“They are very conspicuous at this time of the year,” he wrote.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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