Raffle this!

The kids at Pearland High School, a bit south of Houston, thought they had a novel way to raise some cash for scholarships: Raffle off a house. They got a house from a builder at cost and were aiming to sell enough $100 raffle tickets to earn over $100K. Only one problem - it's illegal for charities to award prizes whose value exceeds $50,000. Thus endeth the grand plan.

I have to say, even if this had been kosher, I'd consider this prize to be more trouble than its worth for the following reason:

Ken Vargas, a spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service in Austin, said depending on a person's income, the tax on $230,000 could be almost 39 percent, or $89,700.

Vargas said that tax would have to be paid before the April filing deadline.

The booster club had made arrangements to loan some money to the winner to help with the tax bite, but still. My taxes are complicated enough, thanks.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on October 01, 2002 to Elsewhere in Houston