Seriously, screw the lottery

I’d like to draw your attention to this Marc Fisher column about the D.C. city council’s difficulties in choosing a vendor to run the lottery here. The column is very good, as Fisher’s columns usually are, and if you don’t read his stuff regularly, you really should. Basically, because of long-standing personal and political connections, the Council is being extremely reluctant in replacing the current vendor, which is way expensive and really crappy, in favor of a cheaper, more modern company. So, go cronyism!

But getting to my main point: seriously, screw the lottery. The lottery functions as a big regressive cash grab on the part of the government. Its proponents point to the great funding they provide for schools and other worthy programs. But the people who play the lottery the most, and thus are the source of the majority of the funding, are disproportionately lower income.

And that’s some weak sauce. Social programs, if they’re going to be funded (and they absolutely, completely, should be funded to the max), should get their money through progressive taxation of those who can afford to give back. Not some jury-rigged stop-gap set up to squeak by for another year while conservative law makers vote for more tax cuts (on principle!).

Anyway, so I’m kind of anti-lottery. And the fact that the Council is adding another layer of government misbehavior onto an already sleazy program is, well, frustrating. But we’re still pro-D.C.! END RANT.