So basically they won the lottery and the IRS hit the real jackpot.
SudhaTheHill on
I mean I would still take that money any day of the week
Regular-Marionberry6 on
How do they take 75 percent? I’m confused as hell.
Batmanswrath on
Are we saying that millionaires/billionaires can actually be taxed? Someone should let the current administration know..
DerpSensei666 on
$424M is still “fuck you” amounts of money. Dude could just get an accountant and retire the next 5 generations of his family. The money would keep growing too if he just invested it somewhere.
StevenMC19 on
1. Lump sum. That’s half the amount, down to 1 billion.
2. ~~Capital gains~~ tax, and some other taxes around 50-60%, down to $424mil.
But what I love about this in most cases (not this one specifically) is that even though the winner is still WAY up on their earnings, and the taxes are likely to go to a program that benefits him and his community, people will still say, “well he ONLY won $424mil” like the cuts suddenly make it not worth the value anymore or something. I would be happy for the rest of my life with just 1% of that.
KJB10000 on
Idiot shoulda offered trump 10 mill to cancel it
unknown_ninja_me on
Lottery tip #1: winning is only half the battle; surviving taxes is the other half.
PoorQwak on
He took the lump sum, which was half as much, and walked away with $628.5M after taxes were withheld.
haha, misconception. this is normal, even for billionaires. the reason they dont get taxed this much is because they actualy dont have that money, its still all tied up in stocks and shit. they have the potential to have that money. if they draw on it, they will get taxed.
Jbob64 on
Surprising winnings in the states are taxed while in Canada they aren’t.
sum12merkwith on
It’s crazy to see the amount of people that don’t know how the lottery works. The advertised jackpot is the total amount of money received after 30 years of annuity and inflation/interest).
The cash out option is usually half of the advertised and Uncle Sam and Little Sam want their take of it. Usually comes out to be 40% tax.
AlsoCommiePuddin on
You take the cash option and it kills like 60 percent of the jackpot. Then taxes get withheld.
That’s how it works
Hungry-Falcon3005 on
Absolutely crazy you get taxed on winnings in the US
kroqus on
That photo is just lil bow wow btw lolÂ
rayjax82 on
Bear in mind that the 2 billion number was if he took the payout over something like 20 years. You take a lump sum and it goes way down. They didn’t take 1.5 billion out in taxes.
GotMoFans on
Start by acknowledging the promoted amount is never the actual cash value.
And when you start with the cash value, you’ll see the taxes that come out matched regular tax rates.
SupaDave71 on
You’re the only billionaire that’s that liquid.
gregofcanada84 on
I would just take the money and leave the country.
halfghan24 on
Is this just a screenshot of Bow Wow from the movie *Lottery Ticket*
Timinator01 on
2 billion is the annuity value over 20 years or however long it pays out cash option will be less but is a better choice if you’re able to be responsible and invest. IRS is still the big winner though since tax is based on income.
AmazingDonkey101 on
Why don’t they just advertise the lottery as 424M jackpot
Quasar_Corgi on
Then they tax you for the $424M at the end of the year.
ShortBrownAndUgly on
400 million is obviously plenty but the drop from 2 billion would still hurt
Separate_Draft4887 on
They took the same amount from his as everybody. This guy also took the lump sum, which is only worth half of the installment plan, which the advertised amount. Also, I can’t think of any lottery that has reached $2bn so this is probably rounded up slightly.
He cut it down himself from $2bn to $1bn, the state of California took 13.3%, federal taxes took 37%, leaving him with just under half a billion. Since there’s no way to argue it’s not income but something else (capital gains or what have you) he gets to pay the full bill.
SwordOfTheMasons on
The lottery is a tax on poor people.
DerpsAndRags on
I’d be happy with 424 Million that cost me a $5.00 investment, honestly.
Nightlightweaver on
You guys are paying tax on lottery wins?! 🇬🇧
Oreoghostboy on
That’s over 75% wtf.
ChrisRunsTheWorld on
If I won $424 million, I’d give a quarter of it to charity.
Not sure what I’d do with the other $423,999,999.75.
Taxes didn’t take 1.5B. They took the lump sum which is way less, like half, and probably paid 40-45% tax
ComprehensiveBig1499 on
40 millions to Israel
legendary420Falcon on
taking over half the sum and calling it tax is absurd.
BeastieNoise on
Not true. They took the lump sum value which was approximately 1B. They were taxed on that over 300M to be left with 628.5M.
ImFriendsWithThatGuy on
This isn’t correct. The 2 billion was 2.04 and the lump sum was 997.6 million. The federal tax rate for that would be effectively 37%. (I say effectively because technically the first little fraction is less than 37% but we will round up). That would be $369,112,000 in federal tax and leave him with $628,488,000.
California does not tax lottery winnings at the state level like they do with income. Even if they did, it would be another 13.3% or 50.3% total, which would be $495,807,200.
This post is off by over 200 million dollars of the actual number. Still feels like getting bent over going from 2 billion to 628 million, I agree.
scouserontravels on
It’s still weird to me that America taxes lottery winnings
Death_IP on
And that is 2 billion dollars that have been taxed twice, because it was all taxed when earned before (bla bla, without tax evasion in the equation, but you get the idea)
iamonlyanoceanalmost on
Once you have a million dollars, you can just make that shit grow and grow. 400 mil? Hire a stock guy to just flip your money for you lol you could hire an accountant for 1 million easy. Then invest a shit ton and do a trust fund
Strude187 on
Is there nothing the US doesn’t screw the average person over?
osumba2003 on
Those figures are always misleading.
One is the annuity and one is the lump sum after taxes. The lump sum amount is discounted. The winner did not pay $1.5+ billion in taxes.
No tax rate is that high.
UnderCoverSquid on
That’s why I wait until the lottery is worth at least 1 billion to play because you know, anything less than half 1 billion is insulting!
42 Comments
So basically they won the lottery and the IRS hit the real jackpot.
I mean I would still take that money any day of the week
How do they take 75 percent? I’m confused as hell.
Are we saying that millionaires/billionaires can actually be taxed? Someone should let the current administration know..
$424M is still “fuck you” amounts of money. Dude could just get an accountant and retire the next 5 generations of his family. The money would keep growing too if he just invested it somewhere.
1. Lump sum. That’s half the amount, down to 1 billion.
2. ~~Capital gains~~ tax, and some other taxes around 50-60%, down to $424mil.
But what I love about this in most cases (not this one specifically) is that even though the winner is still WAY up on their earnings, and the taxes are likely to go to a program that benefits him and his community, people will still say, “well he ONLY won $424mil” like the cuts suddenly make it not worth the value anymore or something. I would be happy for the rest of my life with just 1% of that.
Idiot shoulda offered trump 10 mill to cancel it
Lottery tip #1: winning is only half the battle; surviving taxes is the other half.
He took the lump sum, which was half as much, and walked away with $628.5M after taxes were withheld.
https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/2025/02/13/edwin-castro-powerball-lottery-winner-how-spent-prize-money-california-wildfires/78427502007/
haha, misconception. this is normal, even for billionaires. the reason they dont get taxed this much is because they actualy dont have that money, its still all tied up in stocks and shit. they have the potential to have that money. if they draw on it, they will get taxed.
Surprising winnings in the states are taxed while in Canada they aren’t.
It’s crazy to see the amount of people that don’t know how the lottery works. The advertised jackpot is the total amount of money received after 30 years of annuity and inflation/interest).
The cash out option is usually half of the advertised and Uncle Sam and Little Sam want their take of it. Usually comes out to be 40% tax.
You take the cash option and it kills like 60 percent of the jackpot. Then taxes get withheld.
That’s how it works
Absolutely crazy you get taxed on winnings in the US
That photo is just lil bow wow btw lolÂ
Bear in mind that the 2 billion number was if he took the payout over something like 20 years. You take a lump sum and it goes way down. They didn’t take 1.5 billion out in taxes.
Start by acknowledging the promoted amount is never the actual cash value.
And when you start with the cash value, you’ll see the taxes that come out matched regular tax rates.
You’re the only billionaire that’s that liquid.
I would just take the money and leave the country.
Is this just a screenshot of Bow Wow from the movie *Lottery Ticket*
2 billion is the annuity value over 20 years or however long it pays out cash option will be less but is a better choice if you’re able to be responsible and invest. IRS is still the big winner though since tax is based on income.
Why don’t they just advertise the lottery as 424M jackpot
Then they tax you for the $424M at the end of the year.
400 million is obviously plenty but the drop from 2 billion would still hurt
They took the same amount from his as everybody. This guy also took the lump sum, which is only worth half of the installment plan, which the advertised amount. Also, I can’t think of any lottery that has reached $2bn so this is probably rounded up slightly.
He cut it down himself from $2bn to $1bn, the state of California took 13.3%, federal taxes took 37%, leaving him with just under half a billion. Since there’s no way to argue it’s not income but something else (capital gains or what have you) he gets to pay the full bill.
The lottery is a tax on poor people.
I’d be happy with 424 Million that cost me a $5.00 investment, honestly.
You guys are paying tax on lottery wins?! 🇬🇧
That’s over 75% wtf.
If I won $424 million, I’d give a quarter of it to charity.
Not sure what I’d do with the other $423,999,999.75.
The headline is false. The winner received [$768 million](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/winner-record-breaking-2-billion-151606323.html) after tax, not $424 million.
Taxes didn’t take 1.5B. They took the lump sum which is way less, like half, and probably paid 40-45% tax
40 millions to Israel
taking over half the sum and calling it tax is absurd.
Not true. They took the lump sum value which was approximately 1B. They were taxed on that over 300M to be left with 628.5M.
This isn’t correct. The 2 billion was 2.04 and the lump sum was 997.6 million. The federal tax rate for that would be effectively 37%. (I say effectively because technically the first little fraction is less than 37% but we will round up). That would be $369,112,000 in federal tax and leave him with $628,488,000.
California does not tax lottery winnings at the state level like they do with income. Even if they did, it would be another 13.3% or 50.3% total, which would be $495,807,200.
This post is off by over 200 million dollars of the actual number. Still feels like getting bent over going from 2 billion to 628 million, I agree.
It’s still weird to me that America taxes lottery winnings
And that is 2 billion dollars that have been taxed twice, because it was all taxed when earned before (bla bla, without tax evasion in the equation, but you get the idea)
Once you have a million dollars, you can just make that shit grow and grow. 400 mil? Hire a stock guy to just flip your money for you lol you could hire an accountant for 1 million easy. Then invest a shit ton and do a trust fund
Is there nothing the US doesn’t screw the average person over?
Those figures are always misleading.
One is the annuity and one is the lump sum after taxes. The lump sum amount is discounted. The winner did not pay $1.5+ billion in taxes.
No tax rate is that high.
That’s why I wait until the lottery is worth at least 1 billion to play because you know, anything less than half 1 billion is insulting!