From Each According to his Profitability…

That seems to be the motto of Illinois, at least of those legislators who decided to tax casinos in order to prop up the struggling horse racing tracks.

$70 million a year is the number Illinois is set to steal from the state’s soon-to-be-built 10th casino to fork over to race tracks.

The reason, they claim, is that casinos have caused race tracks to fail…by taking customers away.

Really.

Sure, horse racing is one of the oldest sports and many towns have built their identities on the business of racing, but is that really a justifiable reason to saddle other private enterprises with the task of keeping a sinking business afloat? Imagine if this had happened to past “dying” industries, like for example, the creator of the modern pen. Imagine if they had to tried to tax the pen manufacturer in order to ensure that the manufacturers of ink wells and quills could stay in business. They could even extend that tax to the creator of the typewriter and the personal computer for allegedly stealing customers who would otherwise have no choice but to purchase feather pens. This is asinine logic that hurts consumers by reducing competition, and cluttering the market with business that, frankly, deserve to fail and fade away in order to make space for competitors that acutally have something to offer consumers.