Joe Hachem Pays No Taxes
21st of December 2005
When Australian poker champ Joe Hachem took down the World Series of Poker’s 2005 championship, his $7.5 million win last July broke all sorts of records. When the previous year’s winner, Greg Raymer won $5 million, he had to pay quite a bit of that in income taxes; it turns out that Hachem won’t have to follow suit.
His winnings, which come to about ten million Australian dollars, is not considered income money, and as such will not have to pay income tax. The father of four from Melbourne is said to have earned that money in pursuit of a hobby, which falls under different tax rules Down Under. He had his lawyers check with the Australian Taxation Office, which eventually ruled that it was indeed in the pursuit of a hobby that Hachem won the money.
