hippiechick wrote: 
No, Catherine. (Katie) 

 2cats wrote: 
Is her name Jessica?

 hippiechick wrote: 

I had a baby girl in 1980, also.

 JrzyTmata wrote: 
Some of my best memories come from being in the hospital with my brand new baby girl on my lap, watching the 1980 Winter Olympics

...

 JrzyTmata wrote: 
There is a set tax rate of x% on income. Have you ever gotten a bonus? They take a big chunk right off the top for taxes, whatever your rate is. Then, when you file your income taxes, that amount gets adjusted, depending on your tax rate, other deductions, etc.

Another example: When I collected unemployment, a flat tax amount of 10% was taken out of my gross amount. But when I filed my income taxes, that amount got adjusted because of various deductions, etc. That's how taxes work.

Any time you get a big chunk of change like winning the lottery, the gov takes theirs and you have to beg for it back.

 JrzyTmata wrote: 
and 90's.

ok, so not true. just didn't pay attention. i'm sure that was the case.

 lily34 wrote: 
you were busy in the 80s. no time for the olympics.

 JrzyTmata wrote: 
looks like the figures assume taxation in the highest income bracket.  Probably true for someone with a gajillion endorsements, but not so much for a skeet shooter or table tennis athlete.

 JrzyTmata wrote: 
ok. so i'm just a little slow. not completely mistaken.

 hippiechick wrote: 
of course it was unnecessary. I wasn't asking how taxes worked.

did you read my second sentence? the taxes listed are inaccurate.
fun trivia but bogus.

 lily34 wrote: 
The rules to allow pros to participate in the Olympics changed in 1988. The '92 Olympics were the first.

 Proclivities wrote: 

Yes, I believe that is correct. It varies by sport; I believe that each governing association makes the eligibility determinations.

One of the driving forces, as I remember it, in loosening the requirements in basketball was when the U.S. started losing in the Olympics.    

 JrzyTmata wrote: 
Well, if you know how taxes work, then this explanation would be unnecessary.

 steeler wrote: 
I think that professional boxers and wrestlers may not allowed to compete in the Olympics.  There is also some limitation on how many professional soccer players can be on each team, IIRC.

 hippiechick wrote: 
Yeah, I know how taxes work. I've been paying them for 38 years now.
my point is the post lists a set tax based on a rate that probably doesn't apply to an Olympic athlete. Fun trivia, but it's misleading.

 steeler wrote: 
that must be where i was getting confused. thank you. i guess i was always all "wha?" when i saw professional athletes, like NBA or NHL players participate in the olympics. i thought i remembered growing up that athletes couldn't compete unless you were an "amateur". but i must have misremembered.

 lily34 wrote: 

Remember that the NBA players are playing right now and the NHL players played in the Winter Olympics.

Where losiing "amateur" status affects an athlete is at the school or college level.  You can get paid as an athlete and participate in the Olympics, but you can't do that and participate in the NCAA.       

 JrzyTmata wrote: 
No, because, for example, if you earn $50k/yr you would pay about 13k in taxes. However, you can adjust that tax rate with personal deductions which brings down the amount you pay, but your base tax rate is still 13k. The tax rate is fixed, the adjustments are flexible.

 hippiechick wrote: 
ok. then the taxes you listed are misleading.