Donate Powerball winnings to feds? Why bother?

As millions of Americans dreamed this week of how they would spend the $550 million Powerball lottery jackpot, one North Dakota blogger whimsically pondered how much it would help the federal deficit if the winners donated their take to the U.S. Treasury.

Rob Port, who writes for sayanythingblog.com, appears to be be a rakish Republican – or perhaps more precisely, a droll conservative.

“I’m not a fan of the lottery (I find I get a better return on investment buying beer)” is how he starts his Wednesday blog post. Port points out that the actual haul for the two winners, after taxes, will be a combined $368 million.

“Funny how Uncle Sam has to get (his) slice of the pie, even when it’s winnings from a government-run gambling enterprise,” he wrote.

Nonetheless, if the winners could donate their winnings, tax free, to the feds, how much would that help with the “fiscal cliff” issues? Port did some calculating and found that the enormous sum that will be collected by the Powerball winners, a fortune that most people could never possibly spend in a lifetime, would fund the federal government for less than one day. That’s based on current spending rates.

In fact, the feds would eat up that $550 million bonanza in one hour and 22 minutes.

An  update: The final figures for the Powerball drawing reached a $598 million jackpot -- $48 million more than the estimate when Port wrote his piece.
As a result, the lottery fortune would fund the federal government for one hour and 29 minutes.
Glad to provide that clarification.