Grover Norquist, the nation’s most prominent anti-tax crusader, wrote a letter last week to Texas legislators to call for expanded gambling.
“In light of the adverse economic impact that higher taxes would have, it is imperative that lawmakers consider all other options for balancing the state’s budget,” Norquist wrote. “There are a number of alternatives to raising taxes, the most preferable being an expansion of economic activity, and thus, the tax base. One way to do that would be to permit legitimate businesses to operate that are currently not allowed to do so. Research has found that permitting lawful and responsible gaming operations in Texas is one simple way to grow the Texas economy, thereby generating more tax revenue for the state.”
Representatives from groups that tried to pass gambling measures in the 2011 legislative session said they had nothing to do with the letter.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s executive director, Arlene Wohlgemuth, and it director of fiscal policy, former state Rep. Talmadge Heflin, sought to counter a pro-gambling letter sent to state leaders last week from anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform.
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“While we generally agree with our friends at ATR on tax and spending issues, when it comes to gambling, that is not the case. Their suggestion that gambling is a way ‘in which to rectify the anticipated budget imbalance’ is wrong,” Wohlgemuth and Heflin wrote.
The foundation’s preferred approach would lean more toward fiscal discipline as the state faces the likelihood of another budget shortfall ahead of the 2013 legislative session.
I’m generally agnostic to deeply ambivalent on the gambling question, but if those are my choices I say bring on the casinos and the racetrack slot machines. There are of course other choices, just not ones that these one-percenter chuckleheads are interested in. As we well know, we’ll need a better legislature for any other options to get traction.
Beyond that, I have no idea if any of this will make a difference or not. Neither argument is particularly original, so at this point it’s more a matter of which article of faith one subscribes to. The real question at this point is whether or not gambling will have a higher profile in 2013 than it did in 2011. My money’s on yes.