Opinion: Tribal casinos a 'tax' on poor non-Indians

Tuesday, May 11, 2004  

"In essence, these Indian casinos are hidden regressive tax hikes on the non-Indians living nearby. The tax is regressive in that lower-income people tend to frequent casinos more than upper-income people, and therefore tend to have more of their incomes taxed by the casinos. The tax is hidden in that most people do not understand the taxing effects of these casinos -- and the tribes and their backers do everything they can to squelch honest public debate of the issue.

Meanwhile, the casino tribes' hired guns from Las Vegas and Atlantic City rig the odds to ensure that their profits far exceed any revenue sharing with state government or campaign contributions to buy politicians' silence. That is why despite the $400 million or so annual kickback paid by the Pequots and the Mohegans to the State of Connecticut, far more money goes out of the state, via the losses incurred by the citizens of Connecticut. On combined annual revenues of about $2.5 billion, the two Indian casinos are pickpocketing far more than $400 million from local people."

Get the Story:
Brett Duval Fromson: 'Hellish landscape of losers' (The Providence Journal 5/11)
pwpwd