In Slovakia, Real Lottery Prize Goes to Tax Man

Think winning a lottery prize would be great? Well, when Jozef Lazarcik, a 35-year-old factory worker, heard his number called on national television here recently, he pumped his fists, hardly believing his luck. He had registered only nine receipts with Slovakia’s new tax lottery, and yet he had just won a new car. “It’s a heavenly feeling,” he said before leaving the studio, ready to encourage all of his friends to register their receipts, too — which is exactly what Slovakian officials were hoping for. Over the last 10 years, Slovakia’s revenue from value-added taxes, a type of sales tax,…