gambling summit

[Kurn]

Well, I have a problem with taxes of any kind. I realize that they are necessary for government to function, but that doesn't mean that more is good.

The problem is best described this way.

1) You have no choice whether or not to pay.

2) As soon as you accept the idea that government is a repository of funds that can be used to "improve" society, people and groups will start lining up with "good ideas" for how to use this money.

3) Since the sum of "good ideas" and the money necessary to fund them (demand) will always be greater that the total of tax money available (supply), there will always be pressure on the government to increase tax revenue. basic economics. When demand exceeds supply, prices rise.

And I'm not putting quotes around "good ideas" because i think they're all bad. Some of these ideas sound good to me. However, in a pluralistic society what X group thinks is good, Y group may think is bad and the result is if X group happens to have the majority it gets to impose its will on Y group *and* force Y group to help fund the idea.

So what I'm saying is that while I don't think it is right for the US government to try to stop online gambling, I am completely opposed to them regulating it and taxing it. At least philosophically, that is.