Oscar goody bags sacked after IRS deal

Jill Blackledge

Traditionally, schmoozing has always been a mainstay of the Hollywood scene. The Oscars, the crowning night of the film industry, is no stranger to extravagance. Famed chef Wolfgang Puck caters the dinner, and all the stops are pulled for the after parties.

One Oscar tradition, however, won’t be seen on the red carpet. The gift baskets given to presenters won’t be around this year because of a settlement with the Internal Revenue Service.

According to Variety.com, the baskets should be treated as taxable income as opposed to gifts. An uprising from some actors over the lavishness of the gifts may have also contributed to the discontinuation of the baskets after the 2006 ceremony, when the basket was valued at more than $100,000, according to CNN.com.

Before the plug was pulled, the gift baskets were the film industry’s hotshots’ way of patting each other on the back with their own wealth.

According to Variety.com and CNN.com, past gifts have included Blackberry phones, Canon camcorders, resort/hotel stays in popular travel destinations, cashmere blankets, private parties, two-week Cadillac test drives, one-year memberships to Netflix and diamond jewelry.

According to CNN.com, some companies pay up to $20,000 just to have their products placed in the Oscar gift basket because of the publicity it generates. The items must be worth at least $500 and must be kept secret by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences until after the ceremony.