Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney agrees with the Republicans who say Olympians from the United States should not pay taxes on the medals they win.
“He believes that there should be no taxation of the type that you’re describing,” Romney campaign senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said in a conference call with reporters Thursday.
Romney led the 2002 winter games in Salt Lake City, Utah.
On Wednesday Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio introduced the Olympic Tax Elimination Act in the Senate. California Republican Rep. Mary Bono Mack and North Carolina Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield introduced similar legislation in the House.
The legislation was introduced after the group Americans for Tax Reform released a report this week saying medal winners could end up paying thousands of dollars in taxes.
The U.S. Olympic Organizing Committee awards gold medal winners $25,000, silver medal winners $15,000 and bronze medal winners $10,000. The group estimated that gold winners could pay $8,750, silver winners could pay $5,250 and bronze winners could end up paying $3,500 in taxes to the IRS on their medals.