Sports Collectibles

Now, this sounds just crazy. Only in America, (we hope) - they can actually tax you on an item before you even sell it, if this story is accurate. The following story is about the college student who ended up with Barry Bonds’ 756th home run baseball, and how he has to actually sell it just to avoid paying taxes on it if he were to hold on to it.

I think this begs the question - would he only be taxed because it was a public event that everyone was aware of? And what if you did find that unknown Picasso for $5.00 at a garage sale - don’t tell anyone?

History shouldn’t be this taxing

The Free Press, Mankato, MN
August 23, 2007

“Murphy is one lucky guy, that’s for sure. But he’s a little miffed, and he has a right to be.

He says he’d rather hold on to the ball, but he’s forced to sell it before being heavily taxed on the rare souvenir. He’ll have to pay a tax anyway, after it’s sold, of course - about 35 percent of the price of the transaction, in this case somewhere in the range of $200,000 or more.

…Indeed, even before it’s handed over to Sotheby’s, the ball is taxable based on “a reasonable estimate of value,” meaning that to keep it Murphy would be forced to pay a stiff price to the U.S. government. On top of that, capital gains taxes could be added on as the ball gains future value.”

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We think this is just crap…