re: #446 quickjustice

I don’t think it’s the law of unintended consequences. I think it intentional bootstrapping to get the program enacted. It’s the classic: “This expensive government program won’t cost you anything, because tobacco taxes will pay for it.” You then agree to the program. Five years later, with the tobacco tax base eroding, it becomes, “Oh, we must tax you to pay for this wonderful, existing program, because tobacco tax isn’t carrying its weight anymore.”

That is distinctly possible. A similar bait-and-switch has been used repeatedly here in Ohio to justify higher taxes “for the schools”, when the Ohio Lottery was supposed to pay for same. As yet, Ohio’s schools haven’t seen one penny of “lottery money”- it gets spent on lottery operations, for the most part, feeding and sustaining a large addition to the State bureaucracy. All unionized, and all voting for… guess which party’s candidates.

/Hint- They always call any Republican who is opposed to casino gambling, or new and more expensive lottery game programs, a “reactionary who doesn’t want people to have fun.”

cheers

eon