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Lottery tax on poor

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Lottery tax on poor



Thirty-one million dollars are spent on lottery tickets each year in the city of York, PA. Most of the low income people of York County live in the city. And so it seems quite clear that this turns out to be a tax on the poor that is used to pay for balancing the state budget and for many social services like education.


I would guess that the same is the case for casinos. The poor see this as a way to gamble to get themselves out of the hole of poverty they are in. And thus they often become addicted to gambling as do others. This often ends in many broken families and divorces. I imagine this is the case in most states. There is even a new casino opening soon here Joliet, Illinois.

Until now I have been completely unaware of this injustice. I would guess many of you have also been unaware of this connection.


However another aspect of this is that Indian tribes have been depending on casinos to live on. I would think, though, that there could be a less harmful way to enable that to happen. To me it seems it would be good to end the gambling in non-tribal casinos at least.


As a follower of Jesus I feel called to be an advocate for the poor. And so I ask you to write or call your state representatives to let them know of your opposition to the lottery and casinos in the hope of ending this practice.


How can we expect our governments to change if we don’t let them know how we feel? Thank you for considering letting them know.

Say a prayer for the end of gambling.

Peace to you this day,

Jim

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