Lottery is nothing more than a tax on the poor
Rod Watson’s column, “Education is only way to beat lottery,” in the June 26 News is so right-on it’s breathtaking. The state lottery is a deceptive form of classism, designed to extract “tax” money, gussied up in the form of a “game,” from the poor. They are the ones who, because of the burdens of poverty, are most likely to be seduced by the “dollar and a dream” ploy the lottery uses to attract its participants.
The state’s gooey advertising campaign assuring us that this lottery will pay for education adds insult to injury. It is a tax on the poor, plain and simple.
Education costs a great deal of money. But trying to disguise that unalterable fact by marketing gambling to those who are most vulnerable to its lure and thus shifting the responsibility for its payment to those who can least afford it smacks of arrogance and dishonesty.
Taxpayers should be proud to pay for education since it is one of the most important gifts older generations can bestow on younger ones. But using our current forms of paying for that gift — property taxes and the lottery — is so grossly unfair that it embitters taxpayers and ultimately short-changes the children. Watson’s assertion that the state establish an income tax for education is the most just recourse. In the meantime, let’s dump the lottery. It is truly shameful.
Judith Geer
Holland
