Aug 21, 2016

Sunday Focus: Gambling Away The Milk Money

     Alabama legislators will be back in the Statehouse tomorrow trying to agree on the only lottery legislation still on the table, Governor Bentley's notin-but-a-lottery bill that he says will be a godsend for state finances.
     There are legislators who will not vote for any kind of gambling, and there are lobbyists who battle the current bill because they are paid to do so by other gambling interests. They don't want any competition.
     One argument the anti-lottery forces make is referenced in the headline up top. The poor will buy more lottery tickets and that will make them poorer.
     If they are really interested in helping the poor they should agree to eliminate the sales tax on food because it disproportionately impacts the poor. And as for lottery tickets, the poor actually buy fewer tickets, according to a new Gallup poll:

"Americans whose annual household income is less than $36,000 per year were substantially less likely than higher-income Americans to say they have purchased a state lottery ticket within the past year. Four in 10 lower-income Americans say they bought a lottery ticket during that time, while more than half of middle- (56%) and upper-income Americans (53%) say the same."

HERE are the full poll results. 

[Sunday Focus is a regular longstanding feature of  www.timlennox.com]
 


1 comment:

  1. My "untax Alabama" bumper sticker is still on my car, two years after I moved to Maryland.

    People here are incredulous when I explain the Alabama sales tax on food. "What? Tax food? Why?"

    "Because it keeps poor people poorer, that's why."

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