Taxation is a key political issue in America. The revolution was fought over it, a relatively infinitesimal (compared with today’s income tax) tax on tea. Even now, Trump has raised the idea of an alternative to income tax, a return to a system of tariffs on foreign trade. Liberal economists gasped, decrying tariffs as a “regressive tax” that impacts the poor more than the wealthy.
Yet, you never hear anyone decrying the Michigan Lottery, the most regressive, morally corrupt tax there is.
Morally regressive, at the very least, if not financially. The psychology of gambling is innately predatory. The lottery preys on greed, risk-taking, and low impulse control. It’s a morality tax, simple as that. A tax on gamblers, waiting for you at the end of every grocery checkout aisle.
Michigan sold $5 billion in lotto tickets in 2021. Of that, $3.6 billion was paid out in prizes. You do the math. Where did that $1.4 billion go? Sure, some players got lucky and made out in the end, but on the whole, lottery players are sheep to be shorn, fleeced of more than a billion dollars every year. That’s the whole point, isn’t it?
What does the state government do with this money? It plows it into the school system. Millions for nice things like free lunches, school buses, pens and pencils and such. But also millions for student-loan forgiveness, salary increases, and contributions to employee retirement funds.
Funding schools is one of those things that sounds wonderful, and does have its benefits, but also has a clear political angle. The Michigan Education Association represents more than 157,000 teachers and education workers across the state, and it universally endorses Democrats.
Look, the teachers unions are free to endorse whoever they like politically. Just keep it in mind when you’re buying lotto tickets that you are basically paying an extra school tax. If you lean right, you’re supporting an institution that actively lobbies against you. Sure, the kids need lunch, but there has to be a better way to provide that for them.
The Michigan Lottery started in 1972, with a single 50 cent game, the “Green Ticket.” The big prize back then was $1 million. The lottery now has 392 games and is so ensconced that no one gives it a second thought. Especially in the new era of legal gambling, with sports betting apps draining pockets nationwide, the lottery seems harmless, innocuous even.
Hell, why stop there? The state government should set up its own casinos to fund the increasing bloat of Michigan’s budget. Detroit already does this, funding a portion of its municipal government with a casino tax. Why not a state-run casino in Lansing? Gov. Whitmer can even cut the ribbon and pound some tequila shots after. Why not a government-run sports betting app? Hit those 10-leg parlays, Michiganders, it’s for a good cause!
You may laugh, but it’s already real. The Michigan Lottery is online now! Just make an account, put in your credit card information, and you can play directly online. You don’t even need to take a trip to the gas station anymore. No need to even scratch off a ticket. And when you lose it all, when your hard earned cash is siphoned off to the school system, there’s an easy-to-remember number to call at the bottom—“1-800-GAMBLER”—to help you with your moral failings.
Using schoolchildren as an excuse for the government to prey upon the twisted psychology of gambling is so morally vacuous that it demands indignation. It’s like any other vice tax—taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, weed. The government touts the revenue benefits, while peddling vice.
No one ever said politicians have dignity, but it’d be nice to at least pretend. Leave the gambling to the private sector, and find another way to fund the schools, one that doesn’t rely on psychological predation so severe that it might as well be thievery.
Bobby Mars is an artist, alter ego, and former art professor. Follow him on X @bobby_on_mars.
