Goody, another “fuck the poor” act:
North Carolinalawmakershave draftedlegislation that would ban welfare recipients and people in bankruptcy from buying lottery tickets in the state, according to several news reports.
The bill draft would punish vendors for selling lottery tickets to someone who they know is on welfare or in bankruptcy, according to ABC 11 in Raleigh. The lawmakers behind it believe it’s counterproductive for the government to accept money from welfare recipients who are struggling to get by.
“We’re giving them welfare to help them live, and yet by selling them a ticket, we’re taking away their money that is there to provide them the barest of necessities,”state House Majority Leader Rep. Paul “Skip” Stam (R), who is helping draft the bill, told ABC 11. Stam added that the lottery “is essentially a scam,” the news outlet reported. Stam also said that some of the North Carolina lottery advertising is “just fraudulent,”according to the Raleigh News & Observer.
THEN DON’T SELL LOTTERY TICKETS TO ANYONE. Getyour state out of the goddamn lottery business. Don’t single out poor people and shame them for buying into a scam when you’re the one running the goddamn scam.
A.
Oh, fuck the lottery. I HATE the lottery with a white-hot passion anyway, but this is bullshit. Just one more way to kick the poor, and one more dose of humiliation and punishment.
I can’t imagine the companies who are actually contracted to run the lotteries for the state (and take their big, big cut of same) are going to be happy with this, so this will probably get shot down for the wrong reasons.
Oh, they’re not thinking it all the way through. First off, selling lottery tix to people on support is a great way to re-coup the money. They’d only spend it on Cadillacs and t-bones, anyway.
But even bigger…anyone on support who wins any money in the lottery should be required to turn it over to the state to re-pay for their shiftless dependence on big gummit. It’s only fair!
Also, too…people who “look like” they might be on welfare should be required to present a recent paycheck stub to prove they are gainfully employed. We can get the geniuses in Arizona to show the rest of us how a show-us-your-papers law works in practice.
Bastards.
Since the lottery is actually a “stupidity tax”, then people who want to buy lottery tickets just need to show that they are their Republican voter registration, or their GOP membership card.
There. I fixed it.
sigh, edit edit edit:
“show their Republican voter registration, or their GOP membership card”
There. I fixed it.
I’ve got to admit that I’m curious if this is a back-handed way for those who were against the lottery in the first place to cripple the lottery. After all, lottery participation is higher in the lower income levels.
How do they plan to verify that one isn’t on welfare?
(Admittely, I look at the lottery as a tax on those who failed math. Even agree with Appalachian Trail Sanford that it is the “crack cocaine” of govt revenue.)
I’d just as soon the lottery, which is rigged and a scam anyways, went the way of the dinosaur.