It was only a matter of time before Ontario expanded its gambling market—not because of popular demand, but because the provincial government is addicted to gambling money and is eager to seize any opportunity to get more of it, regardless of the costs to the people it is supposed to protect. [...] Background One of the classic dynamics of addiction is the law of diminishing returns: as time goes on and the addict’s tolerance builds, the same hit no longer offers the same reward, forcing the addict to seek out more and/or different sources to satisfy their craving. [...] The rest of OLG’s revenue goes to prizes—money taken from the many to be concentrated in the hands of the very, very few—and to operating expenses. [...] Instead of subsidizing general spending with a regressive tax taken from the pockets of the poor, the group disproportionately providing the tax would be the group that benefits from the tax. This policy would in many respects be no different from existing sales- tax rebate programs like the GST/HST tax credit. [...] Each year, the province’s total gambling profits would be divided among all adults or households below a certain income cut-off; the government could send a cheque to each recipient, deposit the money in a TFSA, or distribute the money through the tax system as a refundable credit.
- Pages
- 7
- Published in
- Canada
