Still behind on projects – I’ve had a number of new things come up in the last 30 days. But this came to mind today and thought I’d share:

I’ve heard it said the state lottery is “a tax on the stupid.” It takes the money from a group of people and redistributes it to achieve public benefits. That’s a tax. Your odds of winning a payout are so astronomically low they’re not even worth mentioning. The only difference is that unlike the IRS taking your money and never giving ANY of it back, there’s a tiny chance that you’ll win a few million.

But come to think of it, the IRS probably should make our taxes into a lottery system. There are probably a shitload of people who would be much happier about taxes if they knew there was a chance they’d win $500 million for paying them. The payout could depend on how much tax you paid. So someone who paid $1k in taxes has a miniscule chance to win $100M.

Plus, with the payouts going to random people I have a hunch the money would grease the wheels of our economy relatively well. Some would save it, some would spend it, and some would start businesses – but it would be a random distribution (you know, except for that whole human corruption thing.)

Your thoughts?