American talk show host Oprah Winfrey made pop culture history in 2004 when she told her studio audience that each of them was getting a new car. Predictably, joyous pandemonium erupted. But as the 276 audience members later discovered, the devil was in the detail: not only were their cars donated by General Motors as an advertising stunt, but they faced tax bills of as much $7,000 (€6,594) apiece.