It gets wonky with a non-cash windfall though. A couple of years ago my wife and I won game tickets valued around $3k which of course you have to pay income tax on which was ultimately around a thousand dollars (I don’t remember exactly, but it was something like 30-50% of the winnings) for just those tickets, which of course since they’re game tickets you then spend more money going to the game. Ultimately we could afford it and enjoyed the experience but I do not want to imagine how that goes for folks who win for example a $40k car and don’t take the cash equivalent option
It gets wonky with a non-cash windfall though. A couple of years ago my wife and I won game tickets valued around $3k which of course you have to pay income tax on which was ultimately around a thousand dollars (I don’t remember exactly, but it was something like 30-50% of the winnings) for just those tickets, which of course since they’re game tickets you then spend more money going to the game. Ultimately we could afford it and enjoyed the experience but I do not want to imagine how that goes for folks who win for example a $40k car and don’t take the cash equivalent option