So true.  Pennsylvania is one of those states opening up numerous casinos.  Here in Pittsburgh we were treated yesterday to the opening of Rivers Casino and gamblers blew a whopping $14 million opening day.  I suppose I should be happy that these gamblers are lowering my real estate tax, but I’d rather get tax relief some other way…

Thank goodness we’ve resisted the gambling option here in Texas and I hope we never go down that road.

One of my friends has a son who was a manager at one of the Las Vegas casinos. On his very first day of work, he had to handle an employee suicide. One of the housekeeping staff hanged himself in a hotel room because of a huge gambling debt. Indeed, it IS the poor who suffer the most in this.

Nevin, I have a real shock for you:  don’t bet (no pun intended) on seeing any of that real estate tax reduction.  In my former state (Louisiana) and my present state (Mississippi), promises of golden paved roads, overflowing school coffers, etc, just never seem to come to pass.  Now Mississippi has run the gambling business in a totally ethical manner, everything above board and by the book.  But Biloxi could not resist getting a little fat on the huge tax revenues.  Now that gambling is taking a hit with the rest of the economy we are suddenly being prepared for layoffs, furloughs, new utility rate increases, etc.  Oh yes, you are going to need a whole new bunch of bureaucrats to run all the new state government departments to overlook all this: they don’t work for free either (but I bet you knew that).

Capt., one of the big carrots to get gambling legalized in Pennsylvania was the promise that some of the revenue would go for real estate tax relief.  There are a lot of casinos that were up and running before the one in Pittsburgh opened yesterday (due to the horribly incompetent and corrupt licensing process, but that’s another story), and I can report that each of the last two years I got a whopping $128 deduction in my real estate tax bill due to the gambling money.  On the other hand right now our state budget is two months overdue because Rendell is demanding a 16% state income tax hike and the Republican controlled Senate is refusing to give in.  What one hand gives the other hand takes…

I rather think that the proper thing to do is tax the entries in the Adultery webs sites. This would match greed and whoring, as lovely a pair as ever set foot to poison a well on a summer’s day. Bless them!
How they deserve each other! They can be seen every day displaying their wares at Vanity Fair where business is better than ever and their wares more polished and fetching and more openly displayed than formerly.  Larry