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Eastern Time (GMT-5:00) | Pennsylvania lottery wins to be taxed, if legislation passes Pennsylvania Lottery: Pennsylvania lottery wins to be taxed, if legislation passesRating:Winning the Pennsylvania Lottery may be a little less lucrative in a proposal that would allow the state to take a share of the jackpot through income tax. Currently, such winnings are exempt from the state's personal income tax. What does that mean in practice? Let's use January's $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot as an example. For those who opted for the hypothetical lump sum — the final $1.6 billion take was split between three winners — of about $940 million, the feds would withhold a combined 40 percent. That means a payday of $564 million. While many other states take up to 15 percent, Pennsylvanians live in one of two states that have no such tax. The other state is California. But a proposal that passed the House Gaming Oversight Committee on Tuesday would allow Pennsylvania to take income tax out of lottery winnings. At the current rate of 3.07 percent, that would mean giving up $46 million of the hypothetical $1.5 billion jackpot. For Rep. John Payne, who chairs the House committee, taxing lottery winnings is a matter of consistency. "Gaming is gaming," he said. "I'm still struggling on why we ever did not tax lottery winnings. The flip side of that is: So, I don't tax lottery. Then we shouldn't tax small games and we shouldn't tax casino winnings." Every other form of gaming is taxed in one form or another, said Payne, R-Hershey. The Lottery shouldn't be any different, he said. It's also a matter of priorities. "If I have a choice between taxing a lottery winning and raising your income or sales tax, I like this option a lot better," Payne added. Not everyone chooses to participate in gambling, he said. But residents don't have a choice in whether they pay income, property or sales taxes. The proposal, however, does have opponents. Rep. Nick Kotik, D-Robinson Twp., voted to move the proposal on to the House Finance Committee but said he would not support it if it reached the House floor. Removing the tax exemption could be a disincentive for players because it's one more tax they have to pay, he said. "It's just too much," he said. "I think if someone wins the Lottery, they already have to pay federal tax... I don't think that we need to nitpick on lottery winnings." Penn Live
Nutley, New Jersey United States Member #131052 August 1, 2012 901 Posts Offline | Big mistake if legislation passes. | | |
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New Jersey United States Member #17842 June 28, 2005 156896 Posts Online | When NJ enacted this policy they made it retroactive to the beginning of the year! A mind once stretched by a new idea never returns to its original dimensions!
Catch-22: A dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.
Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges: When the republic is at its most corrupt the laws are most numerous.
The best way to learn is to never stop being a student! | | |
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PA United States Member #69847 January 18, 2009 22443 Posts Offline | Not looking good for PA... 2079 1085 8841 7227 3305 4651 | | |
United States Member #141028 April 2, 2013 1481 Posts Offline |  No surprises there. You knew that was coming.
Seek and ye shall find -Matt. 7:7 ...Ask and ye shall receive -John 16:24 ...Give and it shall be given unto you -Luke 6:38 ...Be careful what you ask for!!! -Mypiemaster 1:1 Having Money Solves Problems That Not Having Money Creates  ****John Carlton**** | | |
United States Member #169269 October 10, 2015 629 Posts Offline | For Rep. John Payne, who chairs the House committee, taxing lottery winnings is a matter of consistency. "Gaming is gaming," he said. "I'm still struggling on why we ever did not tax lottery winnings. The flip side of that is: So, I don't tax lottery. Then we shouldn't tax small games and we shouldn't tax casino winnings." Every other form of gaming is taxed in one form or another, said Payne, R-Hershey. The Lottery shouldn't be any different, he said. The part they seem to be forgetting is that the state is already taking 50% (assuming PA is a 50% state) off the top of every dollar spent on lottery tickets. Isn't that enough for them? | | |
A long and winding road United States Member #17083 June 10, 2005 6639 Posts Offline | When NJ enacted this policy they made it retroactive to the beginning of the year! If and (most likely WHEN) this gets signed, it will be from this past June 2015 onwards. I recall the fiasco in NJ when that happened there, some one was a Powerball winner and she fought the case.... Might as well start going cash instead of annuity, cuz Taxes always go up ...might as well take the lowest hit..... | | |
United States Member #162624 January 7, 2015 780 Posts Offline | No surprises there. You knew that was coming. Mr./Ms. MyPieMaster,
Yes, I did.
Mr. Groppo - Don't chase the numbers you play.
- Play only numbers you've already played, plus however many random picks.
- But, ALWAYS the regular numbers you play. This will make you a winner, not a chaser.
(so far, though, I've yet to win any significant lotto prize)
- Oh, but always know where your tickets are, as well as your ticket's deadline.
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United States Member #162624 January 7, 2015 780 Posts Offline | But, this is really stupid. Didn't the powers-that-be know this from the start? And now they're acting like "why not tax them/it as well?" Go ahead, tax the pants off everybody - see if I care?
(well, I would care, only I know I can't do anything about it) Come on, we're not ALL stupid. I don't play in your doggone state anyway. - Don't chase the numbers you play.
- Play only numbers you've already played, plus however many random picks.
- But, ALWAYS the regular numbers you play. This will make you a winner, not a chaser.
(so far, though, I've yet to win any significant lotto prize)
- Oh, but always know where your tickets are, as well as your ticket's deadline.
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United States Member #72892 March 30, 2009 27 Posts Offline | Why are ANY lottery winnings taxed? If I convinced a million people to give me $100 there would be no taxes on the $100 million. But because the money goes thru the state, it gets taxed a second time. Once when earned and again when the lottery hits... | | |
Franklin-n.c United States Member #37193 April 12, 2006 57 Posts Offline | first your Job goes to China and Mexico so they got to get the money from some place that's our Government  | | |
Fresno, California United States Member #157849 August 2, 2014 3959 Posts Offline | first your Job goes to China and Mexico so they got to get the money from some place that's our Government  and now vote!
"We are all in this together!" | | |
United States
Member #106129
February 13, 2011
806 Posts
Offline
| Seems like lottery winners are so persecuted nowadays. The Government is greedy and stupid, don't they know if they start taxing lottery winners at 99% (like they want to) that people will stop playing altogether because it's no longer worth it? lol | | |
PA United States Member #129843 June 29, 2012 340 Posts Offline | The PA lottery has got so tight over the past few years, with it being really bad lately, that this might be the final straw for a lot of us.... especially the people playing instant tickets. While I don't think it's "initially" that big of a deal..... 3.07% isn't that bad, the problem is once they get their fingers in the cookie jar they will soon enough be shoving both hands the whole way in. The tax system is a joke as it is. The amount of tax money I paid out last year is sick. I worked very hard for five years of my life getting a good education that is costing me a lot of money each month. On top of that, it took me two years after I graduated to find a good job in the field that I got a degree in. In those two years, I worked a lot of fairly lack luster and very under paying jobs just to keep myself afloat. Now that I have a good job, I pay out almost as much money in taxes as I took home the year before. I think truly the only people who aren't screwed in this world any more are the people who don't work and live off the system and the rich people. Anyone else gets bent over backwards and taken for a ride. | | |
United States
Member #165914
April 27, 2015
7915 Posts
Offline
| Big mistake if legislation passes. Believe me this won't pass. PA politicians debated about turning over lotto to a British firm for years but never did.
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