Grapevine

By DAVID ELLIS/

TAXMAN, SPARE THAT TREE. The winners of the first Goldman Environmental Prizes, a new award for champions of Mother Earth, were supposed to get $60,000 apiece. Not so fast, says the IRS, which is demanding that the foundation withhold some $22,000 in federal and local taxes from the five foreign winners. Lois Gibbs, the U.S. honoree, will not be docked since she is obliged to declare her winnings as income (prizes to Americans, including the Nobels, used to be exempt, but no longer are). The notion of taxing people like Kenyan Michael Werikhe, who is fighting to save the black rhino, has foundation officials fuming. Says one: "Just the amount withheld for the Federal Government is equal in some cases to five times their annual earnings."

With reporting by David E. Thigpen