That’s a picture of the Golden Globe award given each year by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). The "no goody bag now going untaxed" is the announcement today by the Internal Revenue Service that it reached an agreement with the HFPA resolving outstanding tax responsibilities with respect to Golden Globe Awards presenter gift baskets. And these aren’t just baskets. They include luxury trips, jewelry, and consumer electronic products that were estimated to be worth up to $100,000 at last year’s Oscar awards.
The agreement is part of a continuing outreach by the IRS to the entertainment industry regarding their income tax liabilities. An outreach that began last year with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences resolving outstanding tax responsibilities with respect to Academy Awards gift baskets.
Now this story doesn’t have a whole lot to do with retirement plans – actually nothing at all to do with retirement plans. But I like it because it is a good example of the Two Part Theory of Political Economics ascribed to Nobel winning economist Milton Friedman.
- Part One: “Them what has gets”.
- Part Two: “Ain’t no free lunch”.
