Is the lottery a tax?
Ben wants to know. I think:
It’s a tax on hope.
It’s a tax on people who can’t do math.
It’s a tax people actually stand in line willingly to pay.
7 Responses to “Is the lottery a tax?”
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May 24th, 2007 at 9:18 am
“Its a tax people actually stand in line willingly to pay.”
Ergo, it’s not a tax.
May 24th, 2007 at 9:22 am
I dunno, good liberals pay their taxes willingly π
Or so they say.
May 24th, 2007 at 9:26 am
I’d say it’s more a tax on stupidity. Yeah, the state government is enforcing its own monopoly on gambling. That must mean they’re losing money on it!
But I can understand the judge’s reasoning. Unless any service the government charges for is considered a tax from a constitutional viewpoint, it’s hard to give the lottery a special place.
May 24th, 2007 at 9:47 am
Yeah, it’s a tax. But for a select few, the tax return is amazing π
I don’t play often because I know the math, but it’s a low risk high reward situation. I’ll put $5 in when it’s in the 10’s of millions just for shits & grins.
May 24th, 2007 at 10:44 am
I think it is pretty cool how the state can outlaw a practice (gambling) based on “morality” laws and “for our own good”…even go so far as to come up with a sinister sounding name for it when gangsters and outlaws run them: “Numbers rackets”…and then institute exactly the same practice to raise revenue.
It’s OK if the state runs a Numbers Racket for profit, but it’s a crime if anyone else does it.
I agree with the poster above who said it is a tax on stupidity.
That is clear when you consider who puts the most money into lottery tickets: the people who are the least likely to succeed through ability, motivation and investment.
The thing that pisses me off is the number of people on “public assistance” who spend ridiculous amounts of money on the lottery every week.
I worked at a convenience store for a while when I was putting my ex through college (yes, I know…I never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer). Every day, I had customers come in and use food stamps to pay for their frozen burritos and 2-liter sodas and then plunk down cash to pay $30, $40, $50, $60 on lottery tickets.
Oh, and to them, winning $100 one week completely justified the thousands of dollars they had invested into the winning of that $100.
And why do they do it? Because they’ll NEVER be get rich off the 4% interest of a savings account or the 7% of a blue chip mutual fund.
A tax on stupidity.
And stupid is expensive.
May 24th, 2007 at 11:08 am
The lottery is entertainment.
For $2 I get to fantasize about all the things I could do/buy/create with umpteen million dollars. A lot cheaper than going to the movies (and I always like the ending).
Reminds me, gotta go get a ticket….
May 24th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Sailorcurt, there are differences in the morality of the administration of illegal gambling, for instance the numbers racket you mentioned, and the state lottery.
The main difference is if one hit the numbers, which by the way, gave better odds, you were paid all the money in the jackpot the next day. No state lottery winner can make that claim. In fact, they never actually get that money, what they get is a percentage of the interest and/or earning power on that money for 20 years. Thus, they do not get the benefit of having the money for 20 years to put to work. If they insist on the immediate payout, they get stiffed for more than half the promised payout.
Seems to me the Mafia ran a cleaner game.