Floyd, you asked me why I was against the lottery. Here's why:

[JohnT]

You asked me in a (now) dead thread, and since it was off-topic to the thread, I didn't want to revive it...

1. Schools should not be funded on gambling. (Yes, this is a personal opinion, but others do follow...)

2. Lotteries are horribly inefficient in funding. Less than 35% of the money spent on lotteries actually go to the programs that they are funding.

3. Most state governments tend to reduce the amount allocated towards school funding by the amount increased by the lottery. I did my econ senior thesis on this quite a while back and it was pretty blatant. For example, say you have a state that allocates $1 billion a year to education. The lottery comes in, giving another $500 mil. to education. The next year, the state will allocate $500 mil. to education and expect the lottery to make up the difference.

4. Lotteries tend to be a wealth transfer from the poor to the rich. Lotto outlets (like liquor stores) are 3 times more common in poor neighborhoods, and the percentage of income spent on lotto tickets decreases as income rises.

5. Tennessee doesn't even have an income tax. While some states don't, that is usually because they have a special industry (like Florida and tourism) that can handle the difference. I'd much rather have an income tax to increase the quality of the states education system than a lottery: it's more honest.

So we won't tax the rich and middle-class, but we will tax the poor, and be remarkably deceitful and inefficient about it at the same time. Such a thing I cannot support.

By the way, I didn't call it "morally objectionable." I called it "morally bankrupt." Big difference!

And I know why you support it - because it's voluntary, and an immoral action made voluntarily (like the lotto) is far better than a moral action done involuntarily (like taxes).

[chequita guevara]

It's a tax on inability to understand probablities.

[chequita guevara]

Four threads today?

[DinoDoc]

So we won't tax the rich and middle-class, but we will tax the poor, and be remarkably deceitful and inefficient about it at the same time.

I don't get the objection of it being a tax on the poor. It's a voluntary tax. If they want to waste money on it. More power to them.

PS You must really hate Tunica being so close to the TN border if that's the case.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Four threads today?

Yeah, I'm off to Palm Springs tomorrow and won't be able to follow a single one. Aren't I smart????

Edit: wrong smilie

[ixnay]

If someone wants to spend their money on a lottery, fine; that's not my problem. If they're stupid enough to spend all their money on it, they should have to deal with the consequences.

[chequita guevara]

I think the lottery should be used to fund the National Guard, instead of education.

[Dauphin]

I agree with JohnT on everything except possibly #1.

Originally posted by DinoDoc

So we won't tax the rich and middle-class, but we will tax the poor, and be remarkably deceitful and inefficient about it at the same time.

I don't get the objection of it being a tax on the poor. It's a voluntary tax.

You may consider gambling wholly voluntary, I don't. People can get compulsive about it. My mother is, she buys a lottery ticket each week because she knows that "the week I don't buy a ticket my numbers will come up". I tell her she is mad.

I hesitate to say its an addiction, or that it is harmful, but there is more to it than simple voluntary action and it is akin to taxation of the poor (who predominantly spend the most money on it).

[OzzyKP]

"And I know why you support it - because it's voluntary, and an immoral action made voluntarily (like the lotto) is far better than a moral action done involuntarily (like taxes). "

Well this thread is pointless the whole debate is summed up in the above statement. Well done. Case closed.

[JohnT]

Asked and answered? Yes!

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by JohnT


Yeah, I'm off to Palm Springs tomorrow and won't be able to follow a single one. Aren't I smart????

Edit: wrong smilie

Who wants to break the 2-thread-a-day limit rule to him?

[Lefty Scaevola]

The lotto is a tax on stupidity, and I can think of few things better to tax. It is unfortunate that a high proportion of the stupidity tax is paid by the poor.

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by Lefty Scaevola
The lotto is a tax on stupidity, and I can think of few things better to tax. It is unfortunate that a high proportion of the stupidity tax is paid by the poor.

Agreed. There are plenty of poor people not stupid enough to spend what little they have on the lottery.

However, spending £1 (or whatever they cost in the US) per week on a lottery ticket isn't going to cause anyone any harm. The clever people realise they'll almost certainly never win, don't get carried away with it and enjoy themselves. The misguided people see it as a ticket to a better life and are blinded by their fantasies.

Having said that .... the world would probably be a better place without the lottery IMHO.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

I don't believe it is stupid. People believe that they can win. That doesn't make them stupid. Furthermore, poor people dream of becoming rich very quickly. This is a way of getting there. Rich people already are rich, so they don't play. Like gambling, it can become addicting, and it gets the poor people to spend a large amount of their paycheck on it. I think that the lottery is a good thing, because someone will get rich beyond their wildest imagination, but there is also a drawback. It is collecting the money from everyone (especially the poor) and giving it to someone else. THe majority of the people get poorer, and a very small percentage gets rich. Redistribution of wealth.

[Ramo]

People voluntarily use cocaine. That doesn't make it morally righteous for the government to deal it.

It is a tax on ignorance and addiction, and just another way of taking money from the poor.