|
|
|
|
| Author |
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4,247
|
HAHA, Oprah, What a scam!!!!
Big Problem for 'Oprah' Car Winners
Uh oh. Some things really are too good to be true. One of them may be the free Pontiac G6 Oprah Winfrey and General Motors gave to 276 members of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" audience on September 13. Turns out, the car isn't totally free after all. Even though Pontiac is paying the state sales tax and licensing fees, the recipients will have to pay thousands of dollars in state and federal income taxes, reports The Chicago Sun-Times. And some of them are quite surprised--and downright worried by the tax sticker shock that could cost each winner $7,125 or more. By law, the winners will have to add the value of the "free" car--$28,500--to their income. That could push them into a higher income tax bracket. Most of the winners will likely have to pay about 25 percent or more of the car's value in taxes, which adds up to $7,125. And that's not all. The winners will also have to pay state income tax on the vehicle. "It's not really a free car, it's more of a 75 percent off car," winner Susan Nelson told Sun-Times reporter Lucio Guerrero. "Of course, that's still not such a bad deal." Winner William Toebe, a farmer in Green Bay, Wisconsin, told the paper, "As I was standing up there, the responsible portion of me said, 'This is very nice, but where am I going to get the money for the taxes?'" He's even thinking of getting rid of the car for just this reason. Even though it was implied that the winners walked out of the studio and drove away in their new cars that day, they haven't yet received the vehicles. The automobiles will actually be delivered to a dealer near each winner's home, reports the Sun-Times. Pickup will be between October 1 and February 28. So the good news is that the winners have time to figure out how they are going to pay the taxes and could even delay that bill until April 2006 if they get the car after December 31. |
||
09-22-2004, 04:24 PM
|
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4,247
|
so you mean you would pay 7,000 dollars to recieve a "free" 28K Pontiac G6 ?
|
||
|
09-22-2004, 04:37 PM
|
|
|
Registered
|
Where is the surprise? Uncle Sam always gets his cut, try winning big in Vegas once you'll pay tax on that as well. All prizes over a certain dollar value are taxed. I one a portable DVD player at a food show when they first came out, I had to pay tax based on its MSRP of $900.
__________________
Email me about 911 exhaust stud repair tools, rsr911@neo.rr.com 1966 912 converted to 3.0 and IROC body SOLD unfortunately  1986 Ford F350 Crew Cab 7.3 IDI diesel, Banks Sidewinder turbo, ZF5 5spd, 4WD Dana 60 king pin front, DRW, pintle hook and receiver hitch, all steel flat bed with gooseneck hidden hitch. Awesome towing capacity! |
||
|
09-22-2004, 04:48 PM
|
|
|
Registered
|
Quote:
__________________
Email me about 911 exhaust stud repair tools, rsr911@neo.rr.com 1966 912 converted to 3.0 and IROC body SOLD unfortunately 1986 Ford F350 Crew Cab 7.3 IDI diesel, Banks Sidewinder turbo, ZF5 5spd, 4WD Dana 60 king pin front, DRW, pintle hook and receiver hitch, all steel flat bed with gooseneck hidden hitch. Awesome towing capacity! |
||
|
09-22-2004, 04:49 PM
|
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4,247
|
Quote:
|
||
|
09-22-2004, 04:53 PM
|
|
|
Registered
|
How is that a "scam"? Thats like saying every state lottery is a scam because you don't really win the $xx,xxx jackpot advertised, rather $xx,xxx minus tax.
|
||
|
09-22-2004, 04:57 PM
|
|
|
|
Registered
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Colorado
Posts: 850
|
When you win the lottery, you pay taxes on your winnings.
Is that a scam too?
__________________
83 SC (gone) / 72 T (gone) |
||
|
09-22-2004, 04:57 PM
|
|
|
Registered
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Colorado
Posts: 850
|
Heh, cool, same post time.
__________________
83 SC (gone) / 72 T (gone) |
||
|
09-22-2004, 04:58 PM
|
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4,247
|
big difference between lottery and a car.
when you win the lottery, you win MONEY!!! from that MONEY that you now HAVE in your possession, you pay the taxes and you are still left with MONEY!!! with a car it's different.....if you dont have the 7 grand to pay the taxes, then you can't afford to keep this "new" car. big difference. but if you wanna talk about the lottery, that's not just a scam, it's "legalized scamming", but that's a topic for another OT thread. 
Last edited by on-ramp; 09-22-2004 at 05:04 PM.. |
||
|
09-22-2004, 04:59 PM
|
|
|
Registered
|
I should point out that you have something like 12 monthes from the build date of the vehicle to apply for and get a new vehicle loan. One could concievably get a loan on the vehicle for near full value, pay off the taxes, make a large lumpsum payment in the first month with the remainder and wide up with a relatively small monthly payment on that $7000. Just a thought.
__________________
Email me about 911 exhaust stud repair tools, rsr911@neo.rr.com 1966 912 converted to 3.0 and IROC body SOLD unfortunately 1986 Ford F350 Crew Cab 7.3 IDI diesel, Banks Sidewinder turbo, ZF5 5spd, 4WD Dana 60 king pin front, DRW, pintle hook and receiver hitch, all steel flat bed with gooseneck hidden hitch. Awesome towing capacity! |
||
|
09-22-2004, 05:04 PM
|
|
|
Semper drive!
|
Sell the damn thing...on eBay or elsewhere...then....drumroll, please....you have MONEY!!!!!!
Randy
__________________
84 944 - Alpine White 86 Carrera Targa - Guards Red - My Pelican Gallery - (Gone, but never forgotten )One Marine's View Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum |
||
|
09-22-2004, 05:05 PM
|
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4,247
|
Quote:
but guess what? you can't sell it at the original cost of 28K because now it's USED and has depreciated.
Last edited by on-ramp; 09-22-2004 at 05:24 PM.. |
||
|
09-22-2004, 05:07 PM
|
|
|
Registered
|
Maybe this will wake a few of those dolts up to how much the government confiscates from it's citizens. I'll bet these are the people who think it's a wonderful thing to get a 'rebate' on their taxes each year ......
 As for the BIG O, if she's going to do a giveaway and claim credit for it, why doesn't she kick in a little of her own cash to pay off these $7K tax bills. IT would only cost her a million six or so - chump change. 
|
||
|
09-22-2004, 05:12 PM
|
|
|
Registered
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Sunapee,NH
Posts: 1,161
|
I would take that car for 7 thou. It's a piece of crap but, for 7 and two years of driving then sell for between and 8 and 10 why not? I would also be willing to bet that they were told that day they had to pay tax.
I'm not sure how it is a scam, as soon as I heard they all one cars I knew they had to pay next. I couldn't be the only one who knew.
__________________
Rick " too many people spend money they haven't earned to buy things they don't want to impress people they don't like" Will Smith |
||
|
09-22-2004, 06:53 PM
|
|
|
Registered
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Downtown LA CA / North Texas
Posts: 1,175
|
I would think that ANY bank would give them a loan to pay the tax on the spot with the whole car as collateral...
I'm sure that the manufacturer probably already had banks waiting for those that needed... get a clue people
__________________
944 85.0 Kalahari Beige -- Dead/Gone/NotForgotten (Ran Like a Raped Banshee) 944 85.5 Guards Red Current Stable 944 83 Kalahari Beige manual rack, short 5th gear951 86 Guards Red, pristine TurboYou must not anger the Porsche Gods - you MUST leave one small item unrepaired, lest the Stuttgartians smite thine car with bad Ju-Ju-AF Juvat |
||
|
09-22-2004, 07:17 PM
|
|
|
Registered
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: I'm out there.
Posts: 13,084
|
This is why I don't play the lottery. If I win big, I don't see how I can pay all those taxes!
__________________
My work here is nearly finished.
|
||
|
09-22-2004, 07:21 PM
|
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4,247
|
|||
|
09-23-2004, 05:36 AM
|
|
|
Registered
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 446
|
The way I see it.
I'd pay the 8k in Taxes. Turn around and sell it as close to MSRP as possible. A new 2005 Pontiac listed at 28k hhhmmmmm......... Then again , Whats the saying ....nothings free. LOL
__________________
Andrew 06 GT Mustang 5 Spd w/20" Zenetti's 85 928S2 16v 4.7L Track Car |
||
|
09-23-2004, 05:47 AM
|
|
|
Registered
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Indiana
Posts: 4,553
|
Oh the humanity! Those poor poor people forced at gunpoint to take a $30,000 car and pay $7,000 for it! Its unthinkable. That is what is wrong with this world. Hand people Gold and they are upset cause it isn't Platinum!
__________________
Keeper of the Titanium Monkey 1975 911S (sold) 1973 911 w/3.2 (sold) 1983 911SC targa (sold) Looking for a 987.2 or 981 Cayman |
||
|
09-23-2004, 05:50 AM
|
|
|
Registered
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Northeast GA
Posts: 2,059
|
Regarding this quote from the SunTimes link:
"We have to pick the car up between Oct. 1, 2004, and Feb. 28, 2005," said Nelson. "We've decided that we are going to wait until the first of the year so we can have all of 2005 and the first four months of 2006 to figure out how to pay for this." Not gonna work if the prize is available in 2004. Constructive receipt. 2004 tax liability.
__________________
Bob S. '87 911 ("Hardtop" per neighbor) |
||
|
09-23-2004, 06:11 AM
|
|
1966 Porsche 912 1981 3.0SC
1982 Porsche 911SC 3.0L
1986 Porsche Carerra Targa 3.2
1971 Porsche Targa 2.5L
