Mega Millions? More like mega problems. Is it time to change big lottery payouts? | Opinion
Mega Millions? More like mega problems
Some very lucky person from Maine recently won the Mega Millions drawing, $1.35 billion. My guess is this person is elated but also scared to death. What do 99.9% of lottery winners know about handling a sum that large? Do I hire an attorney, a financial advisor, a bodyguard, etc?
Is it time to change the rules for Mega Millions and Powerball? What if the payoff rules were changed so that every time the drawing went over the $100 million mark there would be an additional winner?
For instance, the recent $1.35 billion drawing would have had 14 winners. Lottery officials would keep drawing until they had all 14. To keep the math simple, let’s use the example of a $1 billion jackpot. This would produce ten winners of $100 million each.
If the winners took the cash option, as most people do, they would each get around $60 million dollars. After federal taxes, they would each bank around $42 million, a much more manageable sum for the common man.
Wouldn’t it be better to make 10 people very happy than only 1 poor soul trying to figure out how to handle this gigantic pot of gold?
Phil Robinson, Auburn
Tax breaks for developers — a cautionary tale
Some readers might remember the “solution” to creating more housing in Tacoma many years ago included offering tax abatements for developers for eight to 12 years. The city lost the tax income and the developers made lots of money, while much of the housing was nowhere close to affordable.
It was touted as a policy that would create more housing units for certain areas. Hopefully, this will be a cautionary tale as we seek solutions to housing that are truly affordable, including for those individuals living in RVs or currently homeless.
Tacoma’s ongoing zoning revisions to allow more units per lot must include firm guidelines to encourage the kind of housing truly needed and avoid lining the pockets of developers again. One solution discussed in a recent Seattle Times suggested making developers \contribute to a fund, which would pay for housing intended for very low-income buyers.
Developers too often build “market rate” units, which are far beyond the reach of those who are in desperate need of housing.
Pat Richmond, Tacoma
How to properly shoot down a spy balloon
Republicans, as usual, missed the target. Their comments regarding the recent downing of a spy balloon aimed at President Joe Biden instead of national security.
They think Biden should have ignored the generals’ advice and shot the balloon down over Montana. Of course, their reference is Donald Trump, who would always go for maximum publicity rather than a serious evaluation of the best option by experts.
Is it possible more of the payload could be recovered in a water landing than in a mountaintop crash? Who cares if you can poke at Joe?
The incident reveals why we are much safer with an experienced and serious president like Biden.
Robert Saunders, Steilacoom
Do we really need more cops?
According to a recent article in The News Tribune, Republicans are convinced that the reason we have fewer police officers compared to other states is new laws restricting aggressive vehicle pursuits and use-of-force standards.
Hmm, does that mean in order to hire more police we have to settle for “Dukes of Hazzard” driving cops, and cops that behave like the SCORPION patrol in Memphis? If that is the Republican solution, I say, we are better off with fewer cops.
”Defund the police” was a bad slogan but not necessarily a bad idea. It included taking some of the police budget and using that money to hire mental health professionals who know how to work with individuals suffering from addiction and homelessness, as well as experts who know how to defuse ongoing domestic violence situations. This approach would allow the police to focus on crime, which is what they signed up to do.
Maybe we don’t need to hire more police recruits, just spend our tax money more wisely?
Do we really need to settle for hiring a bunch of hot rod cops or those who may be prone to using severe and unnecessary force, as it seems the Republican party is suggesting?
John Whitmore, Gig Harbor