[Arnold Zephel]

...Texas smokers will start paying Jan. 1 as part of the sweeping overhaul of the state’s school finance system...

Wasn't the lottery supposed solve the funding of education problem once and for all? That was what the politicians were saying when they were proposing and promoting the lottery to Texans.

There will never be enough money for education, because it is an easy sell to say we need to increase taxes for the kids. People eat it up.

[xowboy]

"That was what the politicians were saying when they were proposing and promoting the...(add your own whatever)
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I just had a brainstorm--with all of the reforms sweeping the nation how about this:

To every ballot in every state add a choice of "ELEMENATE THIS OFFICE' for each and every office voted upon. Maybe we could, at last, vote them out of office.

[WesternPacific]

Wasn't the lottery supposed solve the funding of education problem once and for all

That's what Ma Richards promised

[Myrddin]

Wasn't the lottery supposed solve the funding of education problem once and for all?

Tax revenues are fungible. When you introduce a lottery to fund education, the property/income/sales tax revenues that were previously used for education are replaced by the lottery money. The level of funding doesn't go up. It remains level and the property/income/sales tax revenues get diverted to different pet projects that the politicians really wanted to fund with a tax increase. The lottery is a voluntary tax on fools who expect to win.

Eventually, the lottery isn't enough and the politicians return to raise property/income/sales taxes to fund the insatiable appetite of the teacher's union.