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Addiction Markets

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387 points toomuchtodo | 1 comments | 31 Oct 25 17:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.215s | source
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Humorist2290 ◴[31 Oct 25 23:50 UTC] No.45777973[source]▶

  But if you want to outlaw this harmful activity [licensed gambling], you have to find a way to replace 6.4% of Maryland’s budget, which is slightly less than the entire amount the state brings in from corporate taxes.
A fraction of the proceeds of losing bets from a fraction of Maryland's citizens contributes almost the same to state services -- EMS, education, road maintenance, etc -- than the total corporate taxes levied on all businesses.

Do I misunderstand, or is this just actually incredible?

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TimByte ◴[01 Nov 25 10:50 UTC] No.45780682[source]▶
A state is funding essential public services not through productive economic activity, but by extracting money from people losing bets
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rcpt ◴[01 Nov 25 14:39 UTC] No.45781963[source]▶
Taxing productive economic activity is bad
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vinceguidry ◴[01 Nov 25 15:32 UTC] No.45782461[source]▶
That's... kinda ridiculous? It sounds like you're just against taxation period. How should a government fund itself?
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1. immibis ◴[01 Nov 25 16:28 UTC] No.45782970[source]▶
Zero taxation is just as bad. There's a certain amount of taxation that has to be met, and it's best if it comes from as harmful activity as possible, because whatever gets taxed is discouraged. If there isn't enough harmful activity to meet tax needs, then start taxing normal activity.