Addiction Markets

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387 points toomuchtodo | 1 comments | 31 Oct 25 17:42 UTC | HN request time: 0s | 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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0xDEAFBEAD ◴[01 Nov 25 16:27 UTC] No.45782961[source]▶

>>45777973 #

I think this is a pretty good approach actually. Give people the freedom to gamble, but discourage it through taxes. It's best to tax things you want to discourage. So it's preferable to tax gambling rather than productive economic activity.

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1. Saline9515 ◴[01 Nov 25 17:53 UTC] No.45783725[source]▶

>>45782961 #

Gambling is an addiction without physical substance, it is not clear if taxes reduce gambling.

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