r/memes • u/PoopsMcScoots • 20h ago

The lotto is stupid enough. Stop screwing people over.

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32

u/Herman_McP00tis 4h ago

I'm against this, at least in spirit. I'm also against the "Congratulations, you won $2billion, here's a check for $600million!".

The taxation should absolutely still happen. However, I don't think it should be visible to the person winning/playing the lottery. The burden should happen on the back end before payout. This would mean that the $2billion would still be $600million, but it would be "Congratulations, you won $600million, here's a check for $600million!" while $1.4billion was paid in taxes, just not advertised as "winnings" that the winner will never see.

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u/KarmaticEvolution 3h ago

This is just how America does things. Like all those service fees on concert tickets, Airbnb, hotel rooms, car dealerships, shoot even restaurant prices showing without tax.

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u/Herman_McP00tis 3h ago

Descriptive vs prescriptive. That's how it's done. That doesn't mean it should be done like that

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u/KarmaticEvolution 1h ago

Oh you took my statement all wrong, I hate that it's this way. Just that it's unfortunately the way it is.

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u/LuckyMushyGrower 2h ago

That is if you take the lump sum option…why do you all conveniently leave that out?

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u/Herman_McP00tis 2h ago

Because the conventional wisdom is to take the lump sum.

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u/LuckyMushyGrower 2h ago

And it comes with a penalty it’s a choice

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u/arbeit22 1h ago

Not true. 97% of lottery winners who take the full amount upfront file for bankrupcy up to 5 years later.

The wise approach is to accept the 10k/month check for the next 30 years, which is: - a lot of money - life changing - enough to retire no matter your age - significantly harder to fuck up

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u/BrohamBoss77 1h ago

No it’s not the wise approach the wise approach is to just not blow all your money when you take the lump sum and just do what you’d do with 10k a month lol

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u/soggycheesestickjoos 51m ago

that is not the “wise” approach, that’s the “i only want to have self control for one decision and never again” approach. You can make more by taking the lump sum and investing/saving wisely

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u/ninjabell 1h ago

Because that's what you should do.

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u/JustLookingForMayhem 2h ago

Because the time value is always made to look bigger. Bigger numbers make more people play. In theory, if someone invest the money at 'standard' interest rates, the lump sum and annuity should be the exact same.

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u/Luke_Warmwater 3h ago

The tax burden is unique to the person though.

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u/ThoughtfulParrot 3h ago

I think all taxation should be visible otherwise people will forget they’re paying taxes. People shit on the Americans for having to calculate the price of everything after they buy it but European taxes are much higher because (I suspect) you can hide the tax increase better.

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u/CrimsonChymist 2h ago

The problem with this is that the individuals can potentially do certain things to offset part of the taxes.

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u/TheLizardKing89 2h ago

You don’t pay $1.4 billion in taxes on $2 billion in income.

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u/gigaflops_ 1h ago

On the other hand, lotteries are run by... the government. So why not calculate the jackpot on what it would be, minus any taxes you would owe if you won it.

At least for mega jackpots where you're automatically far into the highest tax bracket and so will have a predictable effective tax rate.

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u/Acidelephant 46m ago

We're not taxed on lotto or other game winnings. Our lotto however is capped at 90 mill