WOW! 1.2 Billion Lottery Win Isn't Much After Taxes [Money Breakdown]

When I heard some lucky person in Illinois finally hit the Mega Millions Lottery, I thought 1.28 billion sounded like a ton of money. But they only get that amount if they take the payments over a long period of time. Most people choose the cash option. That billion dollar payday is now just 747.2 million. That's before Uncle Sam comes over.

The IRS then gets 24% with holding tax sent directly to them. Now you have 567.8 million left. Now you're in a different tax bracket, and the IRS wants 37% of that. That's another roughly 97 million gone. That's how you end up with 470,736,000. Yikes!

What's the first thing you would buy if you won the lottery?


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