A Jan. 7 Instagram post (direct link, archived link) shows a screenshot of a Forbes article with the headline, "Winner Of $1.28 Billion Lottery Gets $433.7 Million After Tax."
“Congratulations to the IRS on winning the $846.3 million Mega Millions Jackpot," reads text above the screenshot.
The post generated over 7,000 likes in less than a week. Similar posts have amassed hundreds of interactions on Instagram.
Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks
This claim botches the math by confusing the lump sum and long-term payouts. A winner of that jackpot who took the lump sum option would pay a maximum of about $473 million in taxes, experts say.
The Forbes article ran in July 2022 after an anonymous partnership purchased the winning ticket in Des Plains, Illinois, for the second-largest Mega Millions payout in the company's history. Reuters reported the jackpot was estimated at $1.28 billion, but it swelled to $1.34 billion as people piled in their money.
In no scenario would a winner of a $1.28 billion jackpot pay $846 million in taxes to the IRS, according to Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, which analyzes tax issues.
Nowhere in the original Forbes article does it say that the IRS would collect a total of $846 million....
Tehran – Saba: The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the subversive actions taken by the rulers of Abu Dhabi against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Last night, Tasnim News Agency reported that the...