Tuesday, July 25, 2006

'Survivor' Winner Sent to Oklahoma Prison

Win a million; go to prison.

Damn.
'A federal jury convicted Hatch in January of failing to pay taxes on the "Survivor" prize and other income. He was sentenced in May to 51 months in prison by a judge who said the reality TV star had lied repeatedly on the witness stand.

[...]

Hatch became known on the CBS show as the "fat naked guy" for refusing to wear clothes.'
I'm both fascinated and saddened by the fact that some folks become millionaires and then, in a relatively short period of time, end up broke, again. This one had a twist, though, since he went to prison, instead... and probably will end up paying the taxes PLUS interest, court costs, fines, and attorney fees.


I guess I'd be pretty unhappy, too, if I won a million bucks and then had to give up half of it to the government, just because.

But dayum.

4 comments:

chele said...

I hear you. But how stupid do you have to be to think that you could get away with it?

Anonymous said...

I understand what Hatch did. Think about it. You win $1, 000 000.00 US. Automatically, you get placed in an entirely new tax bracket. I think it's about 30-33%. Suddenly, your no longer a millionaire. Now granted you would still have about $600,00.00 roughly to play around with, but it's no type of money to retire off of.

I think that when people go on these games shows and win money, it shouldn't be taxed. They won that, they didn't earn it by working. Basically, it's like a gift.

I also think that you shouldn't be given the title of millionaire unless you possess $2, 000,000.00 or more. With the tax brackets that the IRS is hitten with these days, $1,000, 000.00 ain't sh@t.

That's the end of my geek rant for the day. Carry on....

West said...

chele: Exactly. I could see wanting to keep the money, but I have no clue how or why he thought he'd get away with it.

viper: Like I said, I'd be pissed, too.

As far as the tax bracket thing is concerned (I thought they snatched more like 45-50%), I continue to think it's an unfair to take that much of ANYbody's money - especially if they earned it (which one might or might not say Hatch did).

Luke Cage said...

Geez, that's a bum rap if I ever heard one. Not the going to prison for tax evasion, but for winning money on a show and it being taxed. Having said that, even in today's world, you'd have to be in denial or just a plain ol' thrill seeker to think that you were going to get away with this. Mannn, Pleeeez!