I agree this is, and should be, an unpopular opinion.

If I get some money for doing nothing, a windfall, then getting half of it is still me getting free money.

If I work for ten years to get the same amount, shouldn't I pay less in taxes? I spent my time and effort making that money.

Usually anyone who gets rich quick either ripped people off, inherited or won money and I would tax anything unearned at a higher rate than earned.

Lottery winnings in Canada are tax free. Only the earnings from investing it is taxed according to standard laws. It makes a lot of sense because the lottery itself is a form of taxation. The government already got their cut from the tickets purchased by everyone.

In the US you pay the players tax, then you get taxed on the winnings, then you get taxed on income earned from investments.

Meanwhile American billionaires pay next to nothing. What an uncivilized country.

A rolling 5 year average would mean you'd be taxed overly heavily for years after a windfall.

Given that winning the lotto is often financially disasterous, getting taxed heavily after you've already blown the cash could cripple people at their weakest point. Making the lottery more appealing is also a net loss to society.

It opens another potential avenue for tax avoidance schemes to game.

Getting rich quick almost always requires doing something awful. If it just required hardwork or smarts, plenty people got that. We should absolutely not encourage people to aim for once in a lifetime "get rich quick" payoffs.

Winning the lottery? Honestly we should be trying to find ways to DISCOURAGE people from playing if anything.

An invention that makes you rich? If it is a physical good you will probably not see significant net income for a couple year anyways as you need to establish the supply chain, the distribution chain, the marketing, etc. For intellectual property you could maybe make an argument.

Inheritance? Heck no, it shod.be taxed more heavily. That encourages wealthy people to start giving their wealth to their children BEFORE they die, spreading it out over years. Which means they can spend it a bit sooner.

Yes, let's complicate taxes even more.

Upvote because the opinion is unpopular. And I disagree.

If you haven't noticed why the world is shitty right now, look up and learn about what 1% are doing with their money and wealth.

The top end high earners will just restructure their pay so that they get paid a big bonus once a decade or longer.

Tax really isn't the issue here, tax is only significant to you because of wage theft. If the rich weren't hoarding wealth and people had adequate income, you would be earning a lot more and the tax you pay you'd care less about. Unless you're one of them greedy treasure dragons

Winning the lottery is not the American dream. Stop playing if you want to win.

No.

only for loterry winners, get rich quick schemes involve other things besides lotteries.

Rich people already pay less tax (through shenanigans). The source of the wealth is irrelevant.

Definitely unpopular. The trouble is, why not just leave the country the year of the windfall?

By the time the heavier tax is due, you're nowhere to be found.

Companies do it, so why not.

Where I live, we do have the option to register a longer tax form for this. It's mostly used by farmers who are not really businesses, but also not salaried. Most of their income comes from "secondary income", such as sales. It gives private persons the option to deduct expenses from their secondary income and to postpone the taxes over 3 years, so they can utilize losses from one year in the next or hold back some taxable income for potential future losses. Just like businesses, except businesses can postpone taxes for more years and have more deductible costs.

Specifically for lottery winnings, these are "tax free", so it doesn't fuck people's regular income statements. The lottery instead pays a tax based on all their payouts, so the tax man still gets his share, but it makes no difference to the individual winners. Much easier to handle for everyone. You win a million, you get a million. That it cost the lottery 1.2 million to pay out is irrelevant for the players.

can just do a wealth tax or maybe rate based on total wealth. under a mil in assets and no tax on your earnings but 10% above a mil and 20% above 2 mil and 30% above 5mil and 40% above 10 mil and 50% above 20 mil and 60% above 50mil and 70% above 100mil and 80% above 200mil and 90% above 500mil and above a bil you start paying on total assets starting at 10% and going up 10% until you get to paying 90% of total worth every year. should hopefully keep every one below a bil.

Nope! Pay for a good tax accountant or pay up.

Lottery isn't taxed in Canada.

And even if it was, that's good.

Anyone who gets rich should pay more taxes. Period. The richer, the more taxes you pay. That's it.

Give back to the society that allowed you to get rich quick.