Dreams hard-fought and well-earned should have with them that sense of pride. After all, you did everything you could to fulfill it, right?

Well, what if your dream is hampered by a thing we call taxes. Worse still, what if your dream was supposed to be free? That's the reason why Brian Emmett had to give up his dreams of space flight for another day.

Emmett recently won a free trip to outer space through a contest sponsored by Oracle Corp. With the victory came some minor fame, and the troubles of "free" never being truly as free as it should be. You see, Emmett would have to report this victory of his income to the US government, and pay around US$ 25,000 in taxes. The IRS deems any contest winnings as taxable income, thereby turning free trips into very expensive bits of income.

In the end, Brian Emmett opted to give up the shot at winning rather than risk putting his family in debt. It's definitely not something you'd call fair, and while some people still praise companies for sponsoring these free flights into outer space, others like Brian Emmett are far more grounded in reality now.