• barneypiccolo@lemm.ee
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    7 hours ago

    Back in the late 80s, a friend of mine went on Wheel Of Fortune, and won pretty big. Back then, you won “money,” which you then spent at the end of the show in the big showcase of products.

    My friend went with a strategy, and bought stuff like wall-to-wall carpeting and a fridge, but also a couple things like a gaudy gold watch.

    When he got home, he was getting his haircut, and his barber said “I saw you on Wheel. That was a nice watch you got.” My friend sold it to him. That was his strategy - buy stuff for the house, but also buy some stuff that would be easy to sell, so he could pay the taxes out of his winnings.

      • barneypiccolo@lemm.ee
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        4 hours ago

        Of course. All the prize money you see on Jeopardy, Wheel, Family Feud, etc. is all taxed.

        If someone wins a car or vacation worth $20K, they will be expected to pay income tax on that value.

        When Oprah gave away all those expensive cars years ago, she saddled many in that audience with a significant tax bill. A lot of them probably had to sell the car, just to pay the taxes, and then just have the remaining cash in hand after that.

        • tempest@lemmy.ca
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          3 hours ago

          It’s not really an “of course”

          Some countries don’t tax lottery winnings, Canada for example. Though for Canada game shows are a bit more nebulous.