Lottery Observers Start To Catch On
It only took a few years, but according to the New Sentinel, some people are starting to realize that the lottery is actually a regressive tax on lower income people:
Most of the customers who enter this morning are black, and the East Knoxville ZIP code where the Pilot is located is one of the poorest in the city. One in five residents lives under the poverty line, and per capita income is about 30 percent less than that of Knox County as a whole, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
It apparently also affects the mathematically challenged (go figure):
A former school bus driver who isn’t shy about reciting a long list of his physical maladies, Harris says he plays “whenever I feel lucky.” But feeling lucky and being lucky are two different propositions.
“I lose more than I win,” he admits.
And who benefits?
The bulk of the money they lose goes to college students, many of them white students from affluent families, according to a Scripps Howard News Service review of state lottery data.
Let’s call the lottery what it is–a way to tax poor people who receive benefits payed by the taxes of the not-poor and give the not-poor their money back in the form of scholarships for their kids. I deliberately use the term “not-poor” instead of “rich”. Of course, the State takes its little bit off the top going both ways, like any smart bookie would.
Don’t get me wrong. If we’re going to have taxes I’d prefer them be voluntary like the lottery is–that’s not the reason I’m against the lottery. I’m pretty much a live and let live guy, and I’m not against gambling in any way. What I am against is State monopolized gambling.
Let someone else compete for these math taxes!
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