4 ms·

Money is fungible, every penny going from the lottery to X is a penny not taken from the general fund. Thus specific funds for X is only meaningful as a minimu

by Retric 10mo ago

Money is fungible, every penny going from the lottery to X is a penny not taken from the general fund. Thus specific funds for X is only meaningful as a minimum funding amount.

Waterluvian 10mo ago
And they would also have to believe that their education system in its current form would have been even worse without the lottery.
dangus 10mo ago
This is technically true, but the end result is that if you abolish the lottery (unpopular) you have to raise taxes (even more unpopular) to replace lost revenue. Sin taxes work so well at plugging funding gaps specifically because they are optional.
- deleted 10mo ago
  [deleted]
- Retric 10mo ago
  That and they are taxing the poor and under educated who are least likely to complain. Making things explicit such as stamping a “45% Tax” on lottery tickets really changes people’s perception. The Trump administration almost flipped out when Amazon considered explicitly adding tariffs to people’s checkout.
  - koolba 10mo ago
    > The Trump administration almost flipped out when Amazon considered explicitly adding tariffs to people’s checkout. I wish they called their bluff and did it as it’d force Amazon to show the country of manufacture.
    - selcuka 10mo ago
      > it’d force Amazon to show the country of manufacture I don't think many people would care.
      - dangus 10mo ago
        I’m reminded of that company that added a Made in USA option of their product that you could select next to the normal price and nobody would buy it at any price premium. Like, literally nobody. I wish I could remember where that blog post was, I think it came up on HN.
        selcuka 10mo ago
        Probably this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43787647 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43787647
        Retric 10mo ago
        That experiment had an 85% price premium said the item was identical and some people still added it to their cart. Saying people wouldn’t pay any premium is very different than saying they won’t pay an 85% premium.

by Retric 10mo ago

Money is fungible, every penny going from the lottery to X is a penny not taken from the general fund. Thus specific funds for X is only meaningful as a minimum funding amount.

Waterluvian 10mo ago

And they would also have to believe that their education system in its current form would have been even worse without the lottery.

dangus 10mo ago

This is technically true, but the end result is that if you abolish the lottery (unpopular) you have to raise taxes (even more unpopular) to replace lost revenue. Sin taxes work so well at plugging funding gaps specifically because they are optional.

deleted 10mo ago
[deleted]
Retric 10mo ago
That and they are taxing the poor and under educated who are least likely to complain. Making things explicit such as stamping a “45% Tax” on lottery tickets really changes people’s perception. The Trump administration almost flipped out when Amazon considered explicitly adding tariffs to people’s checkout.
- koolba 10mo ago
  > The Trump administration almost flipped out when Amazon considered explicitly adding tariffs to people’s checkout. I wish they called their bluff and did it as it’d force Amazon to show the country of manufacture.
  - selcuka 10mo ago
    > it’d force Amazon to show the country of manufacture I don't think many people would care.
    - dangus 10mo ago
      I’m reminded of that company that added a Made in USA option of their product that you could select next to the normal price and nobody would buy it at any price premium. Like, literally nobody. I wish I could remember where that blog post was, I think it came up on HN.
      - selcuka 10mo ago
        Probably this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43787647 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43787647
      - Retric 10mo ago
        That experiment had an 85% price premium said the item was identical and some people still added it to their cart. Saying people wouldn’t pay any premium is very different than saying they won’t pay an 85% premium.