Free Money

This is a good time to talk about a really inventive thing the Taiwanese government has instituted. Apparently there was some trouble getting store keeprs to truthfully report their receipts, thus the government couldn't account for the sales tax money.

Some smart soul came up with the idea of receipts with preprinted consecutive numbers on them. Every time you buy something, you get one of these receipts. On the 26th of every other month, there is a lottery drawing. You compare the numbers on the receipts with the number drawn and maybe win money. There are 9 digits so it is nearly impossible to match them all, hence that person wins 2 million NT (about $650,000) but you only need to match 3 numbers to get 200 NT ($6.50) and LOTS of people win that. Considering you were going to spend the money anyway, people refer to it as free money. People now demand receipts from stores so the government gets their money, too. Smart, hunh?

The drawing will be the 26th of September. I'll let you know if I will be quitting early...