When politicians want more money, they rarely ask honestly. V.P. Biden called paying extra taxes a “patriotic duty.” Colorado passed a multi-billion dollar tax increase, Referendum C, by calling it the “Economic Recovery Act.” Sen. R. Dole and Pres. Reagan passed the “Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982.” Lotteries, a tax on stupidity, are no different. Colorado’s lottery features a green mountain in its logo and its profits are earmarked for parks and open spaces.

Politicians know that a ‘union handout’ tax or a ‘bureaucrat bonus fund’ lottery would not hold up. Politicians hope that voters will forget that money is fungible. If taxes are raised to fund education, existing education funds can then be siphoned off to support pork for solar panel manufacturers. Especially in the Byzanthia that is government financial control, it is impossible to link revenues to spending. They don’t call the inscrutable Colorado budget the “Long Bill” for nothing.

Governments go to amazing lengths to defend the moral superiority of their tax earmark lies. In Denver, a group of dedicated locals raised private funds to build a children’s playground on a barren patch of Downtown. The Colorado Lottery fund withheld its support for over a decade until the citizens finally raised the lion’s share of the budget. Only then did the Government allocate lottery tax dollars to this modest project. Unlike all private philanthropic efforts, the Government outlaws most signage recognizing donors, it being offended by the public recognition of private and corporate donors. Not so for the lottery. At this particular park, there are already three prominent multi-color plaques advertising that the Colorado Lottery has partly funded the project.

Why would the Government outlaw the very practice it uses itself? Politicians know that tax increases and lotteries are tough sells when their real purpose – general revenue enhancement – is on display. They must lie and pretend that taxes and lotteries go to all the good things in life, like children’s playgrounds. That is why Colorado engages in an ongoing advertisement campaign that claims that the lottery funds open space trails, parks, and all sorts of public good – money that could be used to actually fund these projects. The Government does not want people to know that many of these parks are mostly funded by private donations; it is greedy for the public admiration it needs to perpetuate the lie that taxes and lotteries are the source of the good life. Without that smokescreen, people might remember that Colorado had parks and open space trails before the lottery, and that politicians simply siphoned off the old open space funds to support whatever nonsense the Government does.

Whenever the Government gets high and mighty, as it does with tax increases and lotteries, there is usually something sinister behind its rhetoric. Every tax increase has another fiscal crisis in its shadow. When times are good, the Government wants new fees and taxes to support feel-good programs. When times are bad, the Government needs people to pay their ‘fair share’ or else ‘the children’ will suffer. There is never a time when the Government does not want more money, and its greed knows no bound. So, when the Government says that the lottery paid for your local park, remember that that is a lie.