Evidently the IRS (U.S. Tax Service) has nothing better to do and have launched a new campaign to make sure the celebrities that receive gift bags at award ceremonies know that they are taxable, according to celebrity cafe quoting the LA Times.
IRS Commissioner Mark V. Everson told the Times, "There was an awful lot of publicity about the ever-increasing value of these baskets, and somebody said, 'Why don't we do something about this?' It was just so 
clearly taxable we felt we had to step in."
The industry has already responded by saying next year's Oscars will be conducted without the usual gift bags being offered.
The thing I don't like about this isn't that celebrities have to pay taxes on it, but that the IRS couldn't care less until, as the Commissioner said, "There was an awful lot of publicity" about the value of the baskets. They wouldn't have mentioned anything or lifted a finger unless they started to understand that they might start to look bad or started to possibly receive inquiries on whether the baskets were being taxed.
I guess next year I won't be able to write about the goody baskets anymore. Good thing the IRS is watching out for the well-being of the public.
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