Oprah's 'free' Pontiacs come with
hidden price tag, recipients find
Thu Sep 23, 7:14 PM ET
CHICAGO (CP) - Hundreds of people who were given "free" cars by TV
talk-show host Oprah Winfrey are complaining the gifts came with a
hefty hidden price tag, the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper reported
Thursday.
Many of the 276 recipients of the new Pontiacs that Winfrey gave
away last week are going to have to fork over thousands of dollars
in taxes. While Pontiac agreed to pay for most local charges -
state sales tax and licensing fees - the recipients have to report
the cars to the Internal Revenue Service (news - web sites) as
income.
Adding $28,500 to someone's income can push them into a higher tax
bracket - which means they will have to pay about 25 per cent or
more of the car's value in taxes.
For a nearly $30,000 car, that probably means, for most of the
recipients, shelling out $7,125 for the "free" car.
"It's not really a free car, it's more of a 75-per-cent-off car,"
Susan Nelson, a recipient of one of the cars, told the
Sun-Times.
Some recipients are going to wait a few months before actually
picking up their cars so they can figure out how to pay for the
taxes.
Heather Lundeen said she has looked into a car loan to pay off the
taxes.
