Voluntary Tax

This post was prompted by the news heard yesterday that no one won the jackpot.

There are very few optional or voluntary taxes. Most of the time, people try to avoid paying any taxes they don’t have to pay, and sometimes even taxes they do have to pay.

The lottery is a good example of a voluntary tax. People pay millions of dollars to the government and get nothing in return. That’s even worse than a normal tax, which theoretically has some direct relationship to the payer (new roads nearby, police service for the area, etc).

Governments have reduced that argument by having the lottery profits fund the schools. That also helps to sell the concept of a lottery to some of those who would oppose a lottery. I am glad to have lower property taxes in return for having other people fund the public schools. I would be happier still without a lottery or casinos, but at least I have a choice not to fund them.

“For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
– I Timothy 6:10

Digg Del.icio.us Reddit Stumble Upon

This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 10:11 pm and has been carefully placed in the Finance category.

One Response to “Voluntary Tax”

  1. Driving in Cars with Phones •• Some Blog Site Says:

    […] the state gets more money (which will help the schools, I’m sure). It would end up being a voluntary tax, like the […]

Leave a Reply

Comment moderation: please do not submit your comment multiple times, as comments are not posted until I approve them. If your comment never appears, that probably means that I didn't like your comment (maybe off topic, maybe spam, maybe not family-friendly, etc.).