The Internal Revenue System certainly knows how to squeeze every last dollar out of hard-working Americans as 23-year-old Christian Lopez has discovered. After catching Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit on Saturday, this gracious young man gave it back and made the rounds of TV interviews explaining why he felt it was the right thing to do instead of auctioning it for the reported $250,000 to $300,000 it could be worth. The ball club, grateful for his generosity, offered up season luxury box seats and other treats and memorabilia.
Now the tax man cometh. Estimating Lopez's "prize package" at more than $32,000, the IRS may thump him for anywhere from $5,000 to $13,000 in taxes on the gifts.
Talk about raining on a parade!
When interviewed, the same cheerful young man who gladly handed over the prized baseball said he would pay any taxes assesssed because that was the IRS's job.
Can anyone say, "Personal responsibility"? Because at the age of 23, Mr. Lopez has more of it than many people who are decades older than him.
But wait! A commenter to the NBC online story, Dick B. Carden, left a very good suggestion:
Looks to me like he made a 250,000 dollar charity donation to the baseball hall of fame. He should start with that as a credit to his income and then figure his tax bill overall.Indeed. With the number of Americans who get tax credits to off-set their tax bills, it seems Mr. Carden may be onto something.
Meanwhile, America has just been introduced to a decent young man named Christian Lopez.
Stay tuned to hear the rest of this story....
H/T to Virginia Virtucon
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