Tennessee may cap lottery winnings at $600 for poorPrevious TopicNext Topic

The lottery is not a right, it's a privilege!!!!! @_@

What's a Constatution?

You're 100% right that the government shouldn't be telling people what they can spend their money on. The problem is that if somebody is getting public assistance they're spending our money. If somebody is collecting public assistance and they can still manage to spend money on things that aren't essential, that's absolute proof that they don't need as much as they're being given. If you win a lottery prize with your money the prize should be yours. If you win it with my money,  why would you be entitled to the prize?

Short of replacing the payments (whether cash or food stamps) with services supplied directly to the recipients, it's impossible to control how people actually spend what they're given. The point of the law isn't to keep prizes won by those on public assistance, it's to remove the incentive to spend the money on something they don't need. The problem is that it's impossible to limit payments when the winner can just collect cash at the same time that they're buying beer and cigarettes.

Don't poor people spend a higher percentage of their incomes on lottery tickets than those of greater means?

Poor people spend a larger proportion of their income than wealthy people on any item having a fixed price and general appeal. Poor people pay proportionately more for food, medicine, clothing, utilities, insurance, and housing, as well as for payroll and sales taxes. People who are well-off, on the other hand, spend a higher percentage of their income on things that the poor cannot afford, such as overseas vacations or season tickets to cultural or sporting events. The rich also invest and gamble in stock and commodity markets -- also activities the poor cannot afford.

Lottery opponents have pointed out, though, that unlike spending on, say, a movie ticket, the lottery ticket is purchased from the government and is therefore a regressive tax. But the lottery is not a tax. Webster defines a tax as "a compulsory payment ... for the support of government." No one is coerced to play the lottery. The purchase of a lottery ticket is completely voluntary - and a lot more fun than filling out Form 1040.

Ultimately, though, the important question isn't the percentage of income spent. It's whether the less affluent are spending an unduly large portion of their income on lottery tickets. This has undoubtedly happened in some instances just as it undoubtedly happened with junk food, athletic shoes, and other consumer items. However, there is no evidence suggesting that it is anything approaching the norm. The overwhelming majority of poor people, along with the overwhelming majority of upper-income people, play with restraint and moderation.

But shouldn't the government try to keep those who can least afford it from spending their money on the lottery?

This question implies that economically disadvantaged people are somehow less capable of making a decision on how to spend a dollar than those of greater means or that they are not entitled to the same opportunities for entertainment and recreation than the rest of us. The poor are allowed to vote, get married, and sign contracts. Society in the U.S. and Canada does not usurp rights and privileges based on socioeconomic status. The poor have to budget and watch their expenditures much more carefully than the rich. Economic status is not a measure of intelligence.

I think this is a great idea.People who can't afford to pay there way in this world then then sure should play on our dollar.

somewhere  in  your   statement  I  am  sure   you  think  that   people  whoever  they  are  should  not  be  penilized  for  spending  their  income  on  what  ever  they  choose ;

after  all  lottery  money   is  better  than  drugs  or  card  games ..or   sending  it  overseas   to    forign  nations ....fix  the  lottery  so  that  people  are  always  looking  at    the  Big  business   behind  the  lottery  and  not  at  the  nickels  and  dimes  people  spend  from   food  stamp  money??/

How is the Tennessee Lottery going to know who has money and who don't!!  I know millionaires here in Texas that look like they are poor.   That is taking away our freedom of choice!!  Get with the program Tennessee....Let people do what they wont to with their own money!

Joey

I couldn't agree with you more Wiseone2.

It just shows than the government wants to keep some people always at poverty level without an apportunity to rise above their present livety. It's pure politics eg. Clinton took people off of welfare and put them into work programs to get jobs and Bush came along and put them right back in poverty. This mess never ends. If anyone in that state on public assistance ever wins my advice to them would be. to hold the winning ticket do not reinstate for benefits and then go claim your $$$$$$$$$$ you might get away with it that way or maybe they will require you to pay back all the money they ever gave you wether in food stamps/cash assistance/health insurance or whatever.