Win the lottery? Where you’ll lose the most to taxes

(NEXSTAR) – You’ve picked the right numbers, you’ve overcome the odds, and now you’ve won the lottery. Presumably, you’re due for a massive payout, scrawled across one of those large checks. 

That is, until the taxman comes.

Even the largest lottery prizes in the U.S. have been cut down by taxes. In 2022, a California man won a $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot and opted for the $997.6 million cash payout. After the federal lottery tax of 37%, his payout works out to about $977.3 million – a deduction of about $20.4 million. 

Luckily, that Powerball player bought his ticket in California, a state that does not impose a tax on lottery winnings. Only eight other states – Delaware, Florida, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming – do not have a lottery tax. 

The same can’t be said for other participating states. 

An analysis by MoneyLion found that state lottery taxes range between 1.95% in North Dakota and 10.9% in New York. 

The nine-point difference can, of course, make a........

© The Hill