Lottery Winnings
 

Spain has announced as part of its austerity measures that lottery winnings will now be taxed at 20%. Should we do the same? Should all income, however obtained, be taxed at the same rate? Should there be a limit on the amount one can win on a lottery, and the winnings spread more widely? Discuss.

Re: Lottery Winnings
 

I'm quite prepared to discuss IF, you give us your opinion first Mr. Lecturer, this isn't a college debate club, your guidance would be most welcome.
:D

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Well I doubt it would make much difference, people would stop playing it, so it would be counter productive in the long run and the good causes which are now supported wood lose out

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Tax! On lottery winnings? You gotta be joking.

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The Spanish Government aren't!

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Well C'mon and his mates would be happy, after all they want to tax the rich

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I heard about this earlier this morning on Cool FM the Costa Blanca radio station,It does not apply to the first 2500 Euros.But to all other amounts.

Do American casinos charge a form of tax on large winnings??

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It's the land of the free they don't have any taxes do they?

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I don't know; but if you lose more than you afford, it could cost you an arm and a leg;)

And there is no tax on lottery winnings in Canada ... altho' some think that the lottery itself is a kind of tax.

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Good point - wooden top! :D Your spellings out again! ;)

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Oh no :eek: you haven't joined the grammar nazi club have you? :surprise:

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It's certainly my opinion Eric. I object to how most revenue is gathered in the North and 'good causes' money distributed in the South. I suspect that a decent proportion of lottery cash is spent on stuff that our beloved leaders would have to finance were it not being done already. I think the lottery winnings should be taxed over a certain amount like in betting shop winnings on untaxed wagers.

By the way does anyone else object to the way the BBC gives a free advert to the profit making organisation Camelot??- sorry if it veers from the original post.

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Just as a point of interest last weeks £80 million Euro Lottery was won by a ticket bought in Barcelona.

Fortunately for the winner the new tax law has yet to come into force.:eek::D:D

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Wouldn't surprise me if he/she emigrated, especially so seeing the number of relatives and friends he/she will suddenly aquire. And there's nowt to stop the goverment back dating it.

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The Lottery is a tax. It's a tax on hope

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Interesting comment, so how much percentage would you tax and at what point would it kick in?
Bear in mind that 0.12 pence of every ticket is duty paid direct to the Government.
Yes Camelot are a profit making company, they make 1/2 pence per ticket sold.

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It's debatable, obviously, but how about 10% on winnings over £1 million, perhaps with the option to donate the same amount to an approved charity?
Camelot have overheads, but a halfpenny on 39 million tickets each week will keep the wolf from the door. Sadly, those poor saps who spend far too much of their meagre income on tickets in the hope of hitting the jackpot have far too many visits from their lupine callers.

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Seeing the Government make 12%in the pound already, if 39 million tickets are sold then £4,680,000 is going in to their coffers already.
Camelot will make £195,000 on the same amount of tickets. Not bad really.

Personally I disagree with taxing winnings, seeing the return to the winners is only 50% of the investment.
Taxing would make it even less attractive to those who play it.

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Sorry BG I'm confused. Is .12 pence or.12 pounds from every ticket going to him revenue? If it's the latter then my suggested rate would be too much. BTW when do you ever sleep?

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I disagree wi taxing the winnings also, n i don't always do the lottery, just if in the mood, would never be if taxed.

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He sleeps when his craft is on auto.

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Well, in a way it is already taxed, after all the winners have a greater spending power, buy themselves luxury goods that they only dreamed of and pay V.A.T. every little helps.

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No worries mate, it's 12 pence in every pound spent.
As to sleep, we'll I had a touch of insomnia last night/this morning....
Less that's truer than you know, we do have naps in flight, but not at the same time!

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I knew it to be true, folk are told steel doors have been fitted as an Anti-terrorist device, in truth they are to stop the crews snoring from disturbing the passengers.:)

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Get stuffed DH

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i watched a series on lotto winners in America, it seems that each state has different rules regarding the taxable amounts but it was laughable really that folk weren't getting the amounts they thought they were.

One of the wins was around $6m but after taxes and fees they ended up with about $3.5m. Still better than a tenner for 3 numbers but no longer the life changing amount the winner would have thought they were getting.

Winnings of any description should not be taxable. The advertised 'product' you are buying is a jackpot of £x so that is what you should receive. Woudl you be happy to buy a pint and receive only half a pint? no, you'd boycott the pub.

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Shouldn't any form of "income", particularly unearned income, be taxed in the same way? Taxation does not seem to stop people taking part in lotteries the States or elsewhere. There will be no reduction in the number of people taking part in the Spanish "El Gordo".
A job can be advertised with a salary of £20k per annum, but you know you will have to pay tax on it.
Additionally, aren't some of the winnings obscenely large sums? Surely they should be spread around a bit more (like Premium Bonds).

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Have no objection to spreading the obscene amounts around, I.E. more prizes etc, My objection is to taxation of winnings simple as.

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Quit right cashy tax has already been paid by a lot of people who play the lottery, why should they be taxed again if they get a bit of luck

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Well they are taking £0.12 in every pound spent already, so if they wanted some more out of the prize fund, say 10% that would be a further £0.05 per pound, making 17% tax on the lottery.
The Maximum Betting Duty is £0.15.

Just taking more off those who can ill afford

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The tax would be on those receiving these often obscene amounts of money. Spain reckons it will raise 4.4 billion euros!
All earned income spent on taxable goods is, in effect, taxed twice.

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But of course if you won it would not be obscene.

We are talking about a Government here, it does not matter which side, do you really want to give politicians more money to waste......

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It would be a miracle if I won. I never buy a ticket.
Governments do spend money on things other than themselves, some of it useful.

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Well despite 13 years of labour mismanagement we as a country aren't quite so badly off as Spain perhaps their government reckon if you can waste your hard earned cash on a gamble you can afford to pay the rest of the countries debts?

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Well in that case its best to keep stum then;)