WMAL Interview - Redskins legend JOE THEISMANN - 08.05.16

Schumer: Stop 'victory tax' on US Olympic athletes. LAKE PLACID, N.Y. - Gold medalist Justin Olsen spends 10 to 11 months out of the year training for the Winter Olympic bobsled competition. He says the sport racks up a lot of expenses. "At 20 years old, I started the sport. I spent $15,000 my first year, and that was everything I had. So I was pretty much broke within my first year, but I decided that this was what I was going to do and we find a way," Olsen said. Tuesday, Olsen joined over a dozen Olympians at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center as U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer announced his push for a bill that would help cut back on some of the taxes Olympic athletes face. "When they win, there's no question that they worked hard," said Schumer, D-New York. "So the fact that our athletes are sort of punished by our IRS for winning with a quote victory tax, that's sort of an oxymoron in itself. Why are we taxing victory?" When Olsen won a gold medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics in the four-man bobsled competition, he says he earned $25,000 in prize money, but he only came home with around $17,000 after taxes. Schumer says the new bill would allow U.S. Olympians and Paralympians to exempt the value of the medals and Olympic cash prizes from their taxable income. Competitors say that though there are professional athletes among the Olympic winners, many are working jobs on the side to help cover training expenses. They say at the end of the day, it's not about the money that they win.