解放する／自由な ride to outer space? Not if the IRS has anything to say about it

Brian Emmett's childhood fantasy （機の）カム true when he won a 解放する／自由な trip to outer space. He was 鎮圧するd when he had to 取り消す his 保留（地）／予約 because of the U.S. 税金 system.

Emmett won his ticket to the heavens in a 2005 sweepstakes by Oracle Corp., in which he answered a 一連の online questions on Java computer code.

He became an instant celebrity, giving マスコミ interviews and appearing on 行う／開催する／段階 at Oracle's 貿易（する） show.

For the self-述べるd space buff who has …に出席するd space （軍の）野営地，陣営 and watched 往復（する） 開始する，打ち上げるs from Kennedy Space 中心, it seemed like a chance to become an 宇宙飛行士 on a 薄暗い.

Then reality struck. After some number-crunching, Emmett realized he would have to 報告（する）／憶測 the $138,000 (£65,400) galactic joy ride as income and 借りがある $25,000 (£12,500) in 税金s.

Unwilling to 沈む into 負債, the 31-year-old ソフトウェア 顧問 from the San Francisco Bay area gave up his seat.

"There was definitely a period of 嘆く／悼むing. I was 全く crestfallen," Emmett said.

"Everything you had hoped for as a kid sort of evaporates in 前線 of you."

With 商業の spaceships still under 開発, it's uncertain when the 幼児 space 観光旅行，事業 産業 will 現実に get off the ground.

Still, ultra-rich thrill-探検者s are already plunking 負かす／撃墜する big - though refundable - deposits to experience a few minutes of 無重量状態 60 miles (96 キロメーターs) above Earth.

And in 最近の years, space 観光旅行，事業 companies have teamed with major 会社／団体s to 行う／開催する／段階 contests with 未来 suborbital spaceflights as the grand prize.

The 共同s have interstellar hype, but as Emmett 設立する out, they can get 苦境に陥るd in that most earthbound hassle: 税金s.

"From a 消費者 視野 ... I'd be 用心深い," said Kathleen Allen, director of the University of Southern California's Marshall 中心 for 科学（工学）技術 Commercialization. "I'd check to see the 罰金 print."

Since the 内部の 歳入 Service 要求するs winnings from l ottery 製図／抽選s, TV game shows and other contests to be 報告（する）／憶測d as taxable income, 税金 専門家s 競う there's no such thing as a 解放する／自由な spaceflight. Some contest sponsors 供給する a check to cover 税金s, but that income is also taxable.

"I don't see how an 普通の／平均（する） person can swing that 肉親，親類d of 税金 支払い（額）. It's a big, big bite," said 税金 弁護士／代理人／検事 Donna LeValley, 与える／捧げるing editor for J.K. Lasser's 年次の 税金 guide.

To 減ずる the 財政上の 重荷（を負わせる）, 勝利者s can argue that they don't 借りがある any 税金s until their flight 解除するs off. Another 選択 is working out an 分割払い 計画（する） to 支払う／賃金 税金s over time, said Greg Jenner of the American 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 協会.

The IRS 拒絶する／低下するd to comment, 説 it does not talk about individual 事柄s.

にもかかわらず Emmett's 取り消し, Oracle said its contest was a success. The ソフトウェア 巨大（な） is in the 過程 of 指名するing his 交替／補充 and still has two other 勝利者s on board from Asia and Europe.

That spaceflight will be 供給するd by Space Adventures Ltd., the same company that 仲買人s 取引，協定s for trips on ロシアの ロケット／急騰するs to the 軌道ing international space 駅／配置する for a 報告（する）／憶測d $20 million (£10 million) per 顧客.

Eric Anderson, the company's 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある, 主張するs that contests are the best way for most people to get into space. He said Space Adventures has given away about 20 保留（地）／予約s through 競争s, and the 大多数 of 勝利者s are 満足させるd.

Space contest 支配するs 変化させる 広範囲にわたって but 一般に 要求する 勝利者s to を受ける 宇宙飛行士 training before the trip and 調印する a 権利放棄 解放する／自由なing the sponsors from any 義務／負債 if there's an 事故.

Microsoft Corp. is the 最新の company to dangle a 解放する／自由な space ride. This month it 開始する，打ち上げるd an (a)手の込んだ／(v)詳述する online puzzle game as part of its 宣伝の （選挙などの）運動をする for its new Vista PC operating system.

The grand prize 勝利者 - to be 指名するd this week - gets a seat with Rocketplane Ltd., which is building a souped-up Lear jet it hopes will フェリー（で運ぶ） 乗客s to space in late 2009.

The $50,000 (£25,000 ) check that comes with the prize, which is valued at $253,500, (£127,000) should cover the 勝利者's 税金s, said Brian Marr, group marketing 経営者／支配人 for Vista.

It's ありふれた for contest 勝利者s to have to play a waiting game.

Virgin Galactic 顧客 Doug Ramsburg won his ticket in a Volvo sweepstakes during the 2005 最高の Bowl. His family and friends often hound him about when he'll reach the cosmos.

After all, Virgin Galactic doesn't have any 宇宙船 yet.

Even without an 旅程, Ramsburg says he's not worried. He said he's 確信して in the man 仕事d to build Virgin's 商業の 宇宙船 - 航空宇宙学 designer Burt Rutan, whose SpaceShipOne became the first 個人として 乗組員を乗せた ロケット／急騰する to reach space in 2004.

Ramsburg considers the prize a "blessing" but 拒絶する／低下するd to talk about the 財政上の 手はず／準備, except to say the $100,000 (£50,000) check that （機の）カム with the prize should make him the first 解放する／自由な Virgin Galactic 乗客.

"You don't have to be a superhero ーするために go to space," said Ramsburg, 43, who 作品 in the admissions office of the University of Colorado at Denver.

支援する on Earth, Emmett said he has no 悔いるs about turning 負かす／撃墜する his trip and doesn't 非難する anyone.

"I was, however 簡潔に, a 可能性のある 宇宙飛行士," he wrote last 落ちる in a blog 入ること／参加（者） 肩書を与えるd "Clipped Wings."