For those not following the information in North Carolina, the lottery may or may not start at the end of this month. There are many questions concerning the passing of the lottery bill, and a hearing was held yesterday to attempt to have a judge rule on the constitutionality of the passing of the law that created the lottery.

John Hood, of the John Locke Foundation, gives an interesting analysis of the upcoming decision -- the judge has promised to make his decision sometime this week. The state's primary argument in contending that the law was passed constitutionally is that the lottery is NOT a tax:
If it is impossible for government to tax a voluntary purchase, what is a sales tax? A gas tax? A beer tax? A cigarette tax? I would be shocked if the state prevailblockquoteblockquote>
So those who claim that the lottery is a voluntary tax, am I then allowed to buy gas and NOT pay the tax on it? Can I ignore the sales tax because it's "voluntary?" Not without getting locked up.

The state argument is twofold -- they first claim that the lottery is a voluntary tax, and then they claim the lottery is not a tax, it's a fee. That's a favorite tactic of the Democrats in North Carolina -- they claim everything is a fee and then say that they don't raise taxes.

However, to be a fee, a service has to be provided. That's clearly not the case with a lottery ticket -- because only a portion of the cost of the ticket is being used for the lottery itself. In other words, the lottery costs 65 cents -- including all costs for actually running the lottery and all payouts -- but you pay $1 so the state can collect 35 cents -- for doing nothing.

Clearly the state is in the wrong here. The lottery is a tax. Sure, it may be a tax on the poor and the stupid, but it's a tax all the same. The Democrats, in their zeal to pass this lottery, very clearly violated the state constitution. This week we will find out if the state is ruled by the constitution or by Democrat whim.

Posted by: Ogre at 03:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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