This morning the Texas Legislature decided that the lottery was a bad thing and voted to kill it.
House Bill 2197 began as a seemingly routine proposal to continue the operations of the commission that oversees the lottery until September 2025. But opposition mounted after one lawmaker called it a tax on the poor, and the House eventually voted 82-64 to defeat the measure.
A short time after the vote, the House called an abrupt lunch recess and could reconsider the measure if any lawmaker who voted against it offers such a motion. Unless lawmakers reconsider, the commission would begin a one-year wind down, and cease to exist by Sept. 1, 2014.
Apparently some of the conservative reps believe that the lottery is a tax on the poor. Seems to me that if the lottery is really a tax it;s the fairest tax of them all, After all its the only tax that is purely voluntary.
Seems though they couldn’t figure out how to make up the 1.04 billion dollar shortfall they created in the budget. So they went and undid the damage they created.
After Sanford’s effort initially succeeded, lawmakers quickly questioned the fiscal impact of the move. After adjourning and meeting individually, House members voted two and a half hours later to reconsider and ultimately renew the commission. Afterward, Anchia said lawmakers were faced with a choice.
“We could eliminate the lottery, and then simply raise taxes or cut public schools by another $2.2 billion on top of the $5.4 billion cut from last session, or we could keep the lottery,” said Anchia. “And ultimately that’s what happened on the final vote.”
What were they thinking when they voted down the commision the first time.?
