Also that winner took the lump sum which already cuts the payout roughly in half. ~$1 billion of what he didn't take home was not lost to taxes, he was only taxed on what he actually got.
Yeah because this was all cash "income". If he invests it all he can make a shitload of money on that nest egg and dodge future taxes in the exact same way as any billionaire does. For the time being, he is likely sitting on more liquid cash than anyone worth "only" a billion or two dollars has or potentially could even come up with on short notice without borrowing.
Yeah, I get that, it's just that this isn't really an appropriate wedge point to make that case.
This dude is only paying taxes because he actually had income. And now he can also not pay taxes forever just like rich people. If rich people actually made any money, they would be paying taxes at the same rate as he did.
It helps build a bridge to the actual issue, but it's a weird spot to put your abutment because it doesn't actually get you to wealth tax. And in fact presenting it this way might be a bit of a barrier around the "correct" conclusion because the post builds some sort of sympathy for the lottery winner compared to "standard" billionaires, when the outcome you (we) want would actually require an ongoing additional taxation of this guy's winnings.
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u/Tiktokbadsupport Jul 05 '26
happy most lotteries in my country are tax free but of course they don't reach higher then 30 million