Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler OT: Lottery winnings

Yes, that was what I was driving at.....the negative impact would FAR outweigh the positive in my mind...especially having a large windfall like the recent 649 or Super 7.

Jack, just so that your retirement plan(you're kidding, I hope)is actuarially sound, be advised that the 25% that the Ohio lottery refers to as the federal tax is only the amount that the federal tax law requires to be withheld up front on gambling winnings over certain amounts. The actual tax due, as always, can be more or less than the amount withheld, and in the case of a multi-million dollar win would be the 35% maximum rate. State income tax and those city income taxes which also tax lottery winnings would have to be taken into account. The highest income tax in any state is 11% and if a city tax also applied the total tax could come close to 50%. The amount taxed if a lump sum is taken rather than payments spread over 20-25 years is of course the lump sum rather than the nominal amount of the win. That depends on prevailing interest rates(the lower the interest rate, the higher the amount of bonds the lottery buys to cover the payments)but is in the area of 50% of the nominal win. They have to sell the bonds to pay off in a lump sum, so that's why the precise amount of the cash paid out will vary slightly.

AS BigBear pointed out, in Canada the income tax doesn't apply to lottery winnings. I also understand that the amount won is actually stated in terms of a lump sum so that 100% of that amount is still received. Bottom line of course, is that the whole idea of all of this is still a ripoff.

on a 10 mil dollar lottery i would probably end up with about 20 bucks after the government and THE WIFE

None!

Lousy bloodsucking vampire's! lol. Taxes so i can pay for jimmys mommy and daddy to stay home all day and be lazy living off food stamps, so i can pay for helping rebuild other countries which has no benifits to me, so i can pay for the gov to do basically whatever they want...

Our roads are crap, there are too many laws and restrictions now days, permits for this and that, licenses etc etc. oh give me a break! I go to work to provide for myself and mine, not for everyone else!

Interesting answers. Ok... Another question... Which is bigger in dollar terms, The US Government? Or The combination of Microsoft, General Electric, and Exxon ?

US Govt, for sure. Governments budget is 40% of GNP. Microsoft, GE, and IBM run tight ships because of competition. Where is the competition for the bloated, lazy government?

Mark

Mhorgel is quite correct... The US government is larger than the Fortune 500 combined...

Next question... Specifically, what type of organization is the IRS ? (hint... scum sucking leaches is NOT the right answer... though I would not argue that point... )

Scum sucking leeches! I don't CARE if it's NOT the right answer. Actually, I don't mind paying taxes. I mind our tax money being wasted, or flat out skimmed. THAT is the real problem.

It is a corporation... Let's try multiple choice. The bottom 50 % of wage earners in the country pay 3.9 % of taxes... What percentage of total income do they earn ?

1. 7 %
2. 3.9 %
3. 13 %
4. 2%

Yes, you are correct, the amount is a lump sum pay out of the entire amount. There is no payment plan.