Richard
Wolff explains perfectly the real reason behind the legalization of
gambling and marijuana, which has nothing to do with some kind of
shift of the states towards progressive policies.
As Wolff
says:
Starting a
few decades ago, Americans who have been told to save their money,
who have been told in church that gambling was sinful, we're told
that now the world has changed and you should please gamble every
day, as much as possible. We call that the lottery system.
On every
corner, in every tobacco store, in every stationary store, in
countless drug stores, people are trying to sell you scratch tickets,
lottery tickets, mega millions this, mega box that. That was once
thought sinful, wasteful, inappropriate. Now we're been told 'you
can't win if you don't play'.
And over the
last few years, another unthinkable has happened. The following
states have now legalized the recreational use of marijuana:
Colorado, Washington, California, Nevada, Massachusetts and Maine.
Six states have made it legal and it is a booming business.
We have
lotteries and we have the legalization of marijuana, not because of
cultural reasons, particularly, and not because of cultural changes
particularly. We have that because our state governments are afraid
to tax corporations and the rich because they will lose the money
without which you cannot win electoral office in this country. And
they've loaded up the mass of people with taxes because they didn't
tax corporations and the rich. So, they dare not to raise taxes on
them because then, they will lose the votes.
Caught
between not wanting to lose votes and not wanting to lose the money
they need to be politicians and to compete for the votes, they're
desperate. That's why they borrow so much money and why Illinois,
Puerto Rico have collapsed. Because they can't borrow anymore having
borrowed too much already.
So, imagine
how desperate they are. 'Can we find', they ask themselves, 'new ways
of raising money that the mass of people will not be angry at us
about, and that the corporations and the rich won't care because
we're not taxing them'. Answer: yes. Part one of the answer,
institute lotteries. Part two of the answer, legalize marijuana.
Those state
governments can raise money from people who buy marijuana, but let's
be clear: these are regressive taxes, both the lottery and the
marijuana. The lottery for sure since all statistics show us that the
poorer you are, the more likely you are to spend on a lottery ticket,
and that's no surprise because the more desperate you are to engage
the fantasy that you might become a millionaire tomorrow, if you buy
the right lottery ticket.
With
marijuana, it's a population that is so excited that it can finally
do something legally that it has had to do illegally before, that
they won't mind, at least for a while, being taxed.
These are
taxes on people that make no effort to discriminate according to
their ability to pay. Lotteries hit the poor more than the rich, and
cost the poor a bigger share of their income than they cost the rich.
And the tax on marijuana works pretty much the same way.
These are
not progressive taxes. They make no effort like an income tax does,
to tax you according to your ability to pay. They are escape hatches,
ways for irresponsible Democrats and Republicans to get out of what
they ought to be doing, which is taxing the wealthiest and the
business community because they've been the ones to cut their taxes
the most, everywhere over the last 30 to 40 years.
You forgot about Oregon and Alaska
ReplyDeleteCorporate income taxes are a scam. They are hidden taxes on individuals and families.
ReplyDeleteWorkers pay corporate income taxes through lower wages.
Consumers pay them through higher prices.
Savers pay them through lower returns.
Corporations are just ways of individuals to work together. They can't pay taxes anymore than a Golden Retriever can. It can be no other way.
Great framing, but....
Delete"Corporations are people, my friend!" Mitt Romney, 2012