[Nathan _in_Arkansas]

I’m not against the lottery.

But let’s call it what it is. It’s a poor-tax. Poor people buy hundreds of millions of dollars of lottery tickets each drawing. The IRS then collects every time there’s a winner.

People who play the lottery are getting voluntarily taxed and they don’t even realize it.

[crusty old prospector]

Cigarettes are a poor tax as well.

[Hyman Roth]

But let’s call it what it is. It’s a poor-tax. Poor people buy hundreds of millions of dollars of lottery tickets each drawing.

I hate going into the store and there are these people with a big ol envelope with hundreds of tix. The scratch turn in more rinse repeat. And it's always people who could use that money for....I don't know food.

Anyhow. I buy about 10 tix a year. If I am at the store and I have a couple of dollars of loose change laying around I will buy a ticket. That's it.

[Tell It Right]

Agreed. I can think of only one time that the lottery jackpot got so high it barely made sense mathematically to play it from a risk/reward calculation perspective.

That is, until you realized not only were taxes taken out, but also you don't get the full winnings if you take the immediate cash prize. In other words, the time value of money still made not buying a lottery ticket worth the reward even that one time in my lifetime it was high enough to seem like it made sense.

[subterfuge]

Yep. Another reason I don’t “play” the lottery.

[Extra-Ordinary Objectives]

Interesting, the article didn’t calculate that the prize money is also just a fraction of the amount payed for the tickets. The excess doesn’t go to the IRS, but it is still going to tax revenue?

[IYAS9YAS]

But let’s call it what it is. It’s a poor-tax.

And a tax on those who are bad at math. I call it entertainment. I used to go to movies and dinner out, now I don't. I spend a few bucks here and there on a lottery ticket when the big numbers come around. It's grand entertainment thinking about what I could do with the money. But I know the odds are better for me being struck by lightning.

[Vision]

It destroys initiative from those needing it most and replaces it with false hope, while paying to do so. If I was king I would ban it out of compassion.

[Be Free]

"I’m not against the lottery. But let’s call it what it is. It’s a poor-tax. Poor people buy hundreds of millions of dollars of lottery tickets each drawing. The IRS then collects every time there’s a winner. People who play the lottery are getting voluntarily taxed and they don’t even realize it."

Thomas Jefferson said: "A lottery is a salutary instrument and a tax... laid on the willing only, that is to say, on those who can risk the price of a ticket without sensible injury, for the possibility of a higher prize."

A tax only on those willing to pay? Sign me up!

[traditional2]

" Poor people buy hundreds of millions of dollars of lottery tickets each drawing."

Yeah; and a LOT of non-citizens, too......plus, they pay for the tickets with their EBT's; it's not THEIR money they're gamblin' with......