re: #268 William Barnett-Lewis

More like a tax on the mathematically illiterate. That skews to the poor but I have known plenty who weren’t poor who waste money foolishly on lotteries. A even bigger problem right now is that, in an effort to make people quit, taxes on tobacco have gone so high that cigarettes can consume as much as 25% of people’s income. Unintended consequences and all that.

Alouette posted a page about the tobacco taxes. The rise in tobacco taxes also forced a cigar maker in Tampa close after 100 or so years. I think they laid off 500 people.