Thursday, October 29, 2009

Queens visitor hits jackpot, pays most of it to taxman

From the Daily News:

No joke: visiting your mother-in-law can really pay off!

Just ask Pennsylvania resident Mi Hyun Moon, who bagged a $5 million jackpot while in Queens with her husband to see his mother.

She chose to receive a lump-sum payment of $2.8 million or $1.8 million after taxes.


So she gets less than half of what she won.

This state is so sad...

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

She chose to receive a lump-sum payment of $2.8 million or $1.8 million after taxes.

So she gets less than half of what she won.
__________________________________
New meaning for the term highway robbery?

Anonymous said...

You are seriously overstating the tax bite.

The advertised jackpot includes 20 years of interest. She got the money up front so she forfeited 20 years of interest.

If she reinvests the money for the same interest rate or more than the state calculated the money would yield over that time period, she'll recover a lot of the "lost" money.

karl said...

it hurts more when they take half of your severance check

slick said...

well it makes sense to take a lump sum.

you are better off reinvesting the money on your own terms.

your also assuming that 5 million dollars will be worth the same in 20 years, which it will most likely not be.

Anonymous said...

Taxes are like cooking a frog.


If you put the frog into boiling water, it will jump out, but if you put the frog in first, then turn up the heat, he will sit there till he dies.

Thats how taxes work. If one day your tax bill went from 10% to 50%, you would soon see an armed rebellion. But by nudging it 1.5% here, 0.75% there, they get away with it.

Anonymous said...

I'll take her 1.8 million after taxes if she doesn't want it. Are seriously supposssed to feel sorry for this out-of-state resident who likely won't spend or invest the money she won (read: not "earned") here? Puhleaze!

Unknown said...

its 1.8 million more than what she had before.

Anonymous said...

Its actually 1,799,000.00 She had to spend a dollar to get the ticket.

She can buy alot of Larg-gee coleslaws with that.

Anonymous said...

^^^
That would make it a $1000 ticket. LOL

Anonymous said...

Wish we all had to pay taxes like that. What are you people complaining about? She won $1.8 million for a $1 bet. Any sane working person would take that deal any time.

Queens Crapper said...

Wow the commenter above me has obviously been brainwashed by tax and spend tweeders.

Anonymous said...

Actually, a lot of welfare people are in for a shock if they win.

I had a friend whose mother was on welfare years ago.

When he won, the State refused to pay him because they wanted to recapture the welfare that had been spent on his support.

I wonder how many po folks who fritter what little they have away on those tickets would continue if they knew in the unlikely event they won, they wouldn't even be paid.

Liman said...

FYI, the lion's share of the taxes are federal. Render unto Caesar. We'll be rendering a whole lot more soon.

stupidicare said...

That's NY at its finest: the advertised price is never the price you pay; the advertised reward is never what you get. In the rare event that people talk about salaries, they never mention how much they get net.

The reward is $5 million if you elect to receive it in installments over 20 years. If you want the lump sum right now it's 2.8 million. And of course the lottery advertises the higher reward, that's fine.

What's not fine is the tax rate of almost 36%.

Carol said...

What's wrong with $1.8 miilion?

The Lottery is set up to BE a fundraiser for state governments - if losing a dollar to the government bothers you so much - don't play.

I would be GLAD to give the government WHATEVER if I should win one day.

Lotteries are not entitlement programs

Anonymous said...

Hey Carol. Did your parents have any children who were not born brain dead?

Anonymous said...

The $1.8 million is not less than half, it's MORE than half the $2.8 million lump sum that - as another commenter pointed out - is the lottery "equivalent" of taking the $5 in annuities over 20 or 30 years. This is the way lottery payments are done nationwide (probably worldwide), so it's really no surprise to anyone who knows anything about anything.

But I know... always gotta make a mountain out of a molehill or nobody will read the blog.

Anonymous said...

So then explain how it's fair to be taxed twice. The prize is $5M, not $2.8M.

You can't read, can you? Product of NYC public schools?

Queens Crapper said...

So Lotto falsely advertises? Good to know!

stupidicare said...

As I said, nothing is advertised at the real amount. The lottery advertises the future value of the reward as it is higher.

So for all that do not understand: the reward is NOT $5 million paid in cash right now. The reward is either $2.8 million lump sum, paid right away, or $5 million to be received as annuities over 20 years. $2.8 million is the present value of $5 million to be received in an annual payment over 20 years at a certain the interest rate.

The reward is not taxed twice. The reward is $2.8 million, the tax is $1 million or about 36% of that.

Anonymous said...

i mean all the s money goes in to education right ? where are our new schools ?

Anonymous said...

Wow the commenter above me has obviously been brainwashed by tax and spend tweeders.

Yeah, okay, whatever. Get a life.

Queens Crapper said...

Wow what a brilliant retort! Harvard School of Public Debate?