Just to clear up any misconceptions, the “free iPods” junk mail that’s been going around? To quote Jon Stewart, “Not so much.” But you’re not someone who falls for that sort of thing. The article says that they have sent some out, but the company claims the rest are on “back order.”
Those cars that Oprah gave out for free? Well, almost. The recipients still have to pay an average of $7,000 in federal income tax. A $7,000 car isn’t bad at all, but still… not quite free.
I’m wondering if there’s any proof of the ones they claim to have already sent out. Did anyone bother to investigate that?
Not all of the free iPod stuff is junk, but a lot of it is.
As for the Oprah “free cars” thing…yeah, I was wondering about the taxes. Those poor people got stuck paying federal tax on the cars, which is probably a lot higher than Illinois’ state sales tax (which is what the audience members would have paid if they bought the car themselves.) I wonder if the audience members were given the option of taking cash value…I mean, $7000 for a car still isn’t a bad deal, especially since this is a brand new, fairly high-end Pontiac, but still…