Uncle Sam spoils dream trip to space

**Chip Monk** · 01-29-2007, 02:18 PM

The 10% was for off-course betting and it was the labours who removed it.

There were exemptions tho', if memory serves if you bet a pool (1st and 2nd dog) then there was no tax.

**Barbarossa** · 01-29-2007, 02:42 PM

Winning prizes goes against the American Dream.

**vidcc** · 01-29-2007, 03:08 PM

I meant to post this with the original thread starter but got distracted.

I think this is a tax that should be abolished. If it's a competition open to all then there should be no tax. I've always been against things like the lottery winning tax especially, because the ticket is a tax (albeit a voluntary one). The ticket is a tax, you pay about half of your winnings in tax and if you take it in a lump sum instead of payments over 30 years you get a reduced payout.

On the "dream houses" I believe that now the TV company or one of the sponsors is giving money to cover the taxes after a few people got into financial difficulty, that said it's still a shameful tax.

never enter a competition unless you could afford to buy the prize in the first place

**Mr JP Fugley** · 01-29-2007, 04:06 PM

Lottery winnings are not taxed in the UK. The winnings are all paid to the .... winner.

**Mr JP Fugley** · 01-29-2007, 04:09 PM

I think that's because a proportion of the stake money is paid to them. Similar to the way manker described earlier re betting tax.

So the stake is taxed, reducing the prize pool, so no tax on payouts.

P'raps in the US they don't get anything when tickets are purchased, but get it from the winner. It would be really arse if they got both.

**osakamitsu** · 02-07-2007, 02:37 AM

thats screwed up. Buts its true he could have been rich off of this. Theres no way i would turn a trip into space down either.

**j2k4** · 02-08-2007, 01:53 AM

Just to complete the story...

Man Gets Second Chance at Space Ride

By ALICIA CHANG
The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 7, 2007; 1:19 PM

LOS ANGELES -- A man who gave up a free space ride because he couldn't afford the taxes on the contest prize may be going to the cosmos after all.

Brian Emmett, a 31-year-old software consultant from the Silicon Valley town of Mountain View, has signed on to become a consultant to a space tourism upstart in exchange for a chance to experience weightlessness some 60 miles above Earth.

Brian Emmett, a 31-year-old software consultant, is shown in San Francisco, Jan. 23, 2007. Emmett, a man who gave up a free space ride because he couldn't afford the taxes on the contest prize, may be going to the cosmos after all. Emmett has signed on to become a consultant to a space tourism upstart in exchange for a chance to experience weightlessness some 60 miles above Earth.

Brian Emmett, a 31-year-old software consultant, is shown in San Francisco, Jan. 23, 2007. Emmett, a man who gave up a free space ride because he couldn't afford the taxes on the contest prize, may be going to the cosmos after all. Emmett has signed on to become a consultant to a space tourism upstart in exchange for a chance to experience weightlessness some 60 miles above Earth.

Emmett won a space trip as part of a 2005 sweepstakes sponsored by software company Oracle Corp. He forfeited the prize after calculating he would owe $25,000 in taxes for a spaceflight valued at $138,000.

Enter Benson Space Co., a Poway-based company founded by rocket entrepreneur Jim Benson, who is trying to break into the suborbital spaceflight business.

Benson, who dreamed of flying to space as a boy, said he sympathized with Emmett and offered him a consulting position.

"He had a dream, the dream got broken and we fixed it," Benson said.

As part of the agreement, Benson said, the company would pay Emmett an undisclosed amount to serve as a "test passenger," allowing him to hitch a free ride into space in late 2008 when the company hopes to send its first paying tourists. Benson said the partnership frees Emmett from any tax responsibility.

In return, Emmett would offer his feedback during the testing phase of the project.

Emmett said he was grateful for the second chance to go into space.

"My original situation hasn't changed," he said. "This isn't something I could do with my own means."

Several space tourism ventures, including British mogul Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, are jostling to develop a suborbital vehicle to ferry rich passengers before the end of the decade. Vehicles would need to get approval from the Federal Aviation Administration before they could fly out of the atmosphere.

Benson's Dream Chaser will be powered by hybrid rocket motors and can hold as many as six people. The company has not yet decided on a launch site.

A ticket will cost $200,000 to $300,000 _ the higher prices for those who want to be in the co-pilot seat.