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Wendy of NJ wrote:
> >There's another bond issue up for a new tax on cigarettes here.  The
> >money will go to a good cause, kids in need.  I think it'll add
> >something like 60 cents to the price of a pack of ciggies.
> >
> >Now, I find it interesting that slamming the smokers has gotten to be
> >so popular these days.  Quite frankly, when the rules started to be
> >enforced about having to be away from the building to smoke, I found I
> >didn't mind at all the smokers on campus.  :)
> >
> >And yes, it's a horrible addiction, yadda, yadda.  But am I the only
> >person who finds it a bit... odd that when money is needed the first
> >thing people think anymore is "raise taxes on cigarettes"?
> >
> >I'd rather see them take huge cuts out of the casino business that is
> >so lucrative in Arizona.  (For those who don't know: on an Indian
> >reservation, they can make their own rules to a certain extent.  So in
> >a state that doesn't allow gambling you can have casinos, they just
> >have to be located on the reservations.)
>
> That's because of (a relatively recently found loophole in) the
> treaties with the various Native American nations (which are in some
> fashion, independent "states"). Native Americans in general (I
> believe) are exempt from Federal income taxes.
> I'm not sure it's legal to tax the casinos there.
>
> But isn't that what the various state lotteries are for? Raising money
> for various social programs?

Supposedly.  But you know how it goes, that money is earmarked for
other stuff, if you come up with something new, you need a new source
of funding.

Didn't California recently vote on taxing or charging the casinos
within California state lines?
                                                                           
                               
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