Life's Little Rants #4: Lottery Winnings + IRS = Legal Robbery
The recent Powerball drawing got me thinking, how the hell can the IRS justify taking so much damn money from the winner? People all across the country win lotteries every week, and the government automatically takes its sizeable chunk...for what? Where does that money go? I've always heard the proceeds for lotteries go to fund the school systems and such, but what does the IRS need with so much freaking money?!? How can our country claim to be in debt when government agencies like the IRS are sitting on the billions of dollars they rip out of our paychecks (and the aforementioned lotteries) every week? When are people going to band together and do something about the crooks in our government who just keep getting richer and richer while we keep getting poorer and poorer? I'm personally sick and tired of working my ass off to pay the salary of Joe-In-Office, whose sole job, seemingly, is voting on ways to get more money from the people who voted him behind his cushy desk in the first place!
As far as the lottery is concerned, if I were to win that much money, and I would find myself unable to get out of paying the IRS its mighty portion of my winnings, I would make them sign an agreement to never, ever tax me again for the rest of my life. I look at it this way: if I were to win millions of dollars, I would most likely never work again. If they take several million of my dollars for taxes, that would represent more money than they would have ever seen from me in 10,000 of my lifetimes as an employed American citizen. I would make them admit that their ill-gotten booty is "satisfactory", and I would demand to be placed in a status of "he's good to go".
And if any readers out there try to argue in favor of the government, and it being "the law", let me tell you how laws are categorized in my eyes:
1. Laws that make perfect sense and should be followed to the letter, for the good of yourself and everyone involved. These are few and far between, but they do exist.
2. Laws that don't necessarily make a large amount of sense, but we understand them, and simply follow them because someone would be affected if we don't follow them...and deep down, we really are good people, aren't we? These laws are the greatest in number.
3. Laws that make no sense whatsoever, and we don't see what good they serve to anybody at all. This is where income and lottery taxes fall...and most traffic laws.
I'm not calling for an uprising or general lawlessness from "My Fellow Americans" or anything. In fact, I admit this post may turn out to be greatly naive, in that perhaps I just don't understand the taxing system, and why it may be good I'm being bilked for half of what I earn every week. Maybe someone can make me understand why, if I win $365M in the lottery, I'm only going to receive $124.1M. Maybe some nice government worker (three words that definitely look extremely odd together, in any combination) can log on here and justify why the IRS needs 2/3 of my winnings. Maybe? Perhaps? Does someone in the government care?
Did I really just ask that as a serious question?
As far as the lottery is concerned, if I were to win that much money, and I would find myself unable to get out of paying the IRS its mighty portion of my winnings, I would make them sign an agreement to never, ever tax me again for the rest of my life. I look at it this way: if I were to win millions of dollars, I would most likely never work again. If they take several million of my dollars for taxes, that would represent more money than they would have ever seen from me in 10,000 of my lifetimes as an employed American citizen. I would make them admit that their ill-gotten booty is "satisfactory", and I would demand to be placed in a status of "he's good to go".
And if any readers out there try to argue in favor of the government, and it being "the law", let me tell you how laws are categorized in my eyes:
1. Laws that make perfect sense and should be followed to the letter, for the good of yourself and everyone involved. These are few and far between, but they do exist.
2. Laws that don't necessarily make a large amount of sense, but we understand them, and simply follow them because someone would be affected if we don't follow them...and deep down, we really are good people, aren't we? These laws are the greatest in number.
3. Laws that make no sense whatsoever, and we don't see what good they serve to anybody at all. This is where income and lottery taxes fall...and most traffic laws.
I'm not calling for an uprising or general lawlessness from "My Fellow Americans" or anything. In fact, I admit this post may turn out to be greatly naive, in that perhaps I just don't understand the taxing system, and why it may be good I'm being bilked for half of what I earn every week. Maybe someone can make me understand why, if I win $365M in the lottery, I'm only going to receive $124.1M. Maybe some nice government worker (three words that definitely look extremely odd together, in any combination) can log on here and justify why the IRS needs 2/3 of my winnings. Maybe? Perhaps? Does someone in the government care?
Did I really just ask that as a serious question?
posted by aboynamedjimmy at 3:37 AM
1 Comments:
Spoken like a true libertarian! One of things I remember about grade school history is that "taxation without representation is tyranny!" Well, these rich folk that go to DC don't represent a poor geek slob like me. There's some that say "This might not be a good government, but it's the best government." To which I say, "pfah!" This government has been around less than 300 years. Let me see what it looks like at 500, or 1,000. Then we can make the call. Good rant, my friend (oh, and how come our roads and schools SUCK if all our money is going to them?!?)
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