Safe Luxury

Why would Matt Murphy, the guy with Barry Bonds 756 home run ball want to sell. Keep it until Bonds retires?

If he sells it, he will be taxed on the money he receives. Think he better talk to a CPA, tax preparer or attorney before he sells it. He's better off waiting, put it in a safe deposit box, then when Barry retires, sell it then. Having to give at least 40% to the government is ridiculous. Safe deposit box is cheaper and Barry is still playing ball.

Public Comments

1. He's going to be taxed on the value of the ball, whether he sells it or not. So he can't afford to keep it. .
2. yes that is a smart idea, but on the other hand, what if it is ffound later that bonds did roids? the value would decrease.
3. The IRS wants it's pound of flesh right now. They will tax him regardless if he sells it or not. If he does not sell it he needs to come up with the cash in some other manner.
4. i dont know if it will be worth as much, spur of the moment, it'll get old after a couple of years
5. If he keeps the ball, he is going to be taxed more than if he sells the ball. I know it sounds so stupid but that's our lovely system. In order for him to keep the ball, he has to pay a lot of money to the goverment and keep the ball. So he thought it would be better for him to sell the ball and get 60% of that money. That's why we need george bush and the republicans totaly out of our system.
6. one of the flaws of our country is that were greedy... if he keeps the ball he will have to pay taxes on the ball, wich im sure would be around 200,000 being the case if the ball goes for 600,000 thats why bro...
7. The longer he waits the stock goes down, because a-rod's gonna have that record soon. And since Bonds might be convicted of using steroids. And if he is convicted and proven guilty, the price of that ball would go down immediately.
8. Why is he going to be taxed? The ball is only worth whatever the stadium bought it for. It's not worth anything untill he sells it. By the IRS's logic, they could tax a person who owns a very rare and valuable car. That person doesn't sell it so they can guess the cars estimated value and tax him for it. Thats bull. Nothing has value untill someone actually buys it. I have a hat signed by many popular Texas country artist. The hat itself cost me 80 bucks. Whatever its estimated value is makes no difference. Its actually value is 80 bucks until someone buys it. That tax lawyers is just screwing this guy out of a piece of sports history. It's wrong
9. He's is better off selling the stupid thing now rather than later. Esp. if he can put the most of the income into a retirement account. The US tax code out of touch with reality. Trouble is, neither party has the guts to rewrite it because of all the flak they'll catch for changing every little bit of code that affects someone.
10. Value is based solely on what it may bring monetarily. I have to tell you... I would pay more than the actual value of the baseball itself. I dig baseball, but let's face it, Bonds is just a man that plays really well. I don't think the IRS can tax you on potential income.
11. Here is an article I found. It may answer some of your questions. For some more info, check out my blog entry on my yahoo 360 page. I have a lot of info about this situation there. here is the link: http://360.yahoo.com/preeyu_1996_patel Matt Murphy May Keep Bonds Ball Certainly an interesting turn of events regarding Matt Murphy, the Mets fan who caught Barry Bonds' 756th home run. Instead of getting rich, Murphy may very well decide to keep the ball: "Part of me wants to keep it. It's the greatest American sports accomplishment in history," Murphy said Thursday on NBC's "Today Show." "Part of me might want to sell it, but I really am leaning towards keeping it. It's just too valuable, sentimental." Selling the ball for that amount would instantly put Murphy in the highest tax bracket for individual income, where he would face a tax rate of about 35 percent, or about $210,000 on a $600,000 ball. Even if he does not sell the ball, Murphy would still owe the taxes based on a reasonable estimate of its value, according to John Barrie, a tax lawyer with Bryan Cave LLP in New York. Capital gains taxes also could be levied in the future as the ball gains value, he said. Hey, I'm all for sentimentality. But if the IRS is coming after your wallet because of something that might have value (which I don't see how they could do but I'm not the one with the accounting degree), and if that ball doesn't go up in value but in fact goes down (and when you consider steroids, and the fact that this record may not even belong to Barry Bonds in five years, that's a likely scenario), then it would tell me that Murphy would be wise to sell. But hey, he made the wise decision to stop in San Francisco and buy a ticket to the game on his way to Australia ... so who's to say he doesn't know what he's doing?