Reality Bites

Reality TV winners get tax reality check

Reality TV winners get tax reality check

Having a contractor create your dream
home for a television show is great.
Then the tax bill comes.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Some reality
television winners apparently got a
brutal reality check this tax season.

Daily Variety reported Friday that
families featured on the ABC hit show
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and
Fox's "Renovate My Family" not only
are getting their dream homes, but
also nightmare tax bills.

One Illinois husband and wife, according
to the entertainment industry publication,
discovered it owes $529,000 in taxes
after Fox-hired contractors tore down
their old house and built a new one with
special accommodations for their paralyzed
son. The renovation aired on Fox this past
summer.