I think that most people let the computer pick the numbers. I don't know if I have ever seen someone turn in the form with their own numbers.
Im with you that it shouldn’t be considered an idiot tax. Though I do question why governments should really be the ones running this and making the money. Maybe it’s better than coercive taxes, I don’t know.
I'd decriminalize all drugs. Provide people the resources to get addiction treatment if they want it. If people want to make bad choices, let them do it, as long as they don't harm others.
Lottery, and gambling, should be set up that if you are receiving public benefits you are not eligible to win. If you need public assistance to manage your day to day life, you shouldn't be buying lottery tickets
That would include people receiving Medicare and Social Security. How about we just let people live their lives? Public benefits are a finite amount. If they want to spend money that could go to food or shelter, so be it.
i have a lot of sympathy for these views. It is a tax on the poor and less educated and for those that actually win evidence shows that a giant unexpected windfall often decreases quality of life, because those that are poor and uneducated have no idea how to manage such a windfall (actually most people don’t) and between grifters and greedy family members it can be a miserable experience. Having said that, I’m not sure the revenue would be replaced, and there I tend to think people should make their own choices, so I reluctantly support their existence.
You shouldn’t but evidence (from my recollection) shows that it is generally more efficient to give people cash and let them make their own choices vs trying to regulate how they spend it, as people tend to find workarounds to the regulation. From another perspective, buying lottery tickets is a tax, and if welfare recipients choose to buy lottery tickets, they are basically just refunding it to the government (although possibly a different govt agency)
This isn't incorrect, just that I prefer to use the term "hope tax." I remember this person who was pretty intelligent when the lottery was in its early stages in Virginia. Anyways, he figured that he could "game the system" by getting a consortium of investors to chip in and buy a block of say 1000 scratch-off games in succession. He figured it was THE way to get one of the top prizes. Yes, it was - and is - an idiotic idea.
Scratch offs is where you see the real damage on some people. Using all their money up on those things.
There really isn't that much revenue to be replaced. And we wouldn't have to actively target people with advertising to entice them in.
So how do you feel about people making 40k a year with a $1000 a month car payment? Would You consider those people targeted by the non stop car ads ?
And taking up all the cashiers time. I've walked out of the store multiple times after waiting while the person in front of me dropped a couple twenties on scratchoffs, but one at a time and scratched off each one before deciding what their next one was going to be.
