If you live in Ohio, and are eligible to vote in Tuesday's election, and are smart enough to exercise your right to vote, great. What I'm about to say may surprise you.
I don't care how you vote on the gambling issue. Really, I don't.
For those of you reading this, no matter in which state you reside, I would like to make a different point.
You have all heard of the term "sin tax". It's when you take people's vices - preferably drinking and smoking - and tax the living daylights out of them. People get to "do what they do", and municipalities, or the state, or both, get to fill their corporate coffers. It's a win for all sides, right?
Not really. What happens when the state or municipalities decide to start making it illegal to consume according to your vice? In other words, what if it's legal to buy cigarettes, but illegal to use them? Logically, wouldn't you stop buying them? If you did for that reason, or because you wanted to improve your own health, you would stop the growth of the governmental coffers. Oops, we can't have that! Why? Because governments do not believe in paring down costs; they operate off the premise of continual increase. So, when the coffers decrease in value, that's not good.
What do you do, then, if one vice no longer pays the bills? Why not subsidize another one? Let's see, what's a good example of a vice that, in controlled amounts, doesn't hurt anyone? Hmmm.
{thinking}
{still thinking}
Um...gambling?
Yep! You got it.
Think about it for a minute. Regardless of whether gambling is good for the economy, look at the tax collection opportunities. You start by permitting gambling at a small number of locations. Then you approve gambling at more locations. Then you start taxing the daylights out of gambling activities. (BTW...I refuse to use the politically correct term "gaming".)
But wait, there's more.
The reason Ohio is promoting gambling is because it will "keep money in the state". In other words, Ohioans will gamble in Ohio, instead of going to neighboring states. If that is truly the goal of gambling, and the state and municipalities start adding winnings taxes, tourist taxes, additional lodging taxes, etc., guess who wins?
Ooh, ooh, ooh, Mr. Kotter, Mr. Kotter, I know!
Who?
No one.
Yep, but why? Simple. You are adding taxes to an already overtaxed population in the state of Ohio. You've substituted "smoking tax" for "gambling + tourist + lodging" tax, all to the detriment of the state's residents. So, by supporting the vice, we're actually setting up portions of our population to keep less money in their pockets by being taxed more.
Nice, huh?
Friday, November 03, 2006
Gambling On a Vice
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
nice photo!
I hate to say you are probably correct about the political motives.
Oops! That is Marie N. using the DH's identity -- sorry dear, sorry folks!
Yeah but...amend the constitution to do it???
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would say that only depends on whether the other states, where people who live in Ohio go to gamble now, levy taxes. I imagine they do, at least hotel taxes and probably much much more. So the people who gamble in Ohio now are paying taxes anyway; the money is just going to another state.
And I think the people who actually own the gambling casinos would win. They'd make out like one-armed bandits.
Barb,
Yes, there are some "tourist taxes" now, but I imagine some creative legislator(s) will come up with more. Just about when, oh, it's time to "beautify" downtown Cleveland again.
And, by the way, at that time, they still won't have figured out how to attract businesses, even with the casinos in place.
Post a Comment