12/f/taiwan wrote:
DrunkFace wrote:
Reciprocity wrote:
yes, lotto winnings are taxed. as are casino winnings and anything you win on a gameshow or in any contest, whether cash or prizes. It's all considered income.
Taxing gambling winnings would mean you would have to give tax deductions for anyone who lost money. And given people always lose more then they win the government would be paying more in tax deductions then they get from increased income tax... Stupid imo. Lots of extra paperwork for a negative return..
GG America.
You actually think the majority of the people take every single losing ticket with them while doing their taxes? It would be tedious and annoying. I say only a really small percentage actually do that.
It's relying on the publics laziness, maybe its does net the government money but it has to potential to lose it, and it's not just lotto tickets, its all forms of gambling from lotto to casinos to betting on sports which can amount to large sums of money people are not going to just 'forget' about. It also then requires home gambling/betting (for money) illegal because it could be seen as tax evasion.
The system is pointless, gambling is more or less just the transfer of money between winners and losers no matter the type, they just use a medium (bookies, casino, lotto) to collect and pay the money, but in the end there will be some net losers and some net winners and the government is just taking a percentage of the net winners gains and redistributing it back to the losers taking very little (or possibly a loss) in the process. That doesn't even take into consideration the whole lot of extra paper work require to make sure everyone is declaring their income and loses correctly both on the public and government.
Last edited by DrunkFace (2009-06-05 23:08:07)