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Read the full op-ed from the Richmond Times-Dispatch HERE.
RICHMOND, Va. – In case you missed it, the Richmond Times-Dispatch yesterday published an op-ed by Freedom Virginia Executive Director Rhena Hicks calling on lawmakers to reject a plan to bring predatory skill games back to Virginia and instead focus on funding Virginia schools through tax reform including a Fair Share tax on those making more than $1 million per year.
These slot-like machines have been a focus of great debate throughout the year, including during the 2024 legislative session. Proponents claim legalizing skill games will help fund our schools and other priorities, but the revenue from skill games would generate only a small drop in the bucket compared to a “Fair Share” tax that would have produced over $3 billion for the current biennial budget.
On the other hand, skill games disproportionately target lower-income communities, and polling shows that Virginians want to keep them out of the commonwealth. In fact, support for a candidate drops 29 points when voters are told that candidate supports skill games.
Here are a few highlights from the op-ed:
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“In other states, skill games are often seen in restaurants, bars, convenience stores, laundromats and even veterans halls. An analysis by Axios found that nearly 70% of skill games in Charlotte, North Carolina, were located in neighborhoods where families earned less than $51,000 per year. Similarly, when skill games were legal in Virginia, 70% of these machines were concentrated in zip codes with median incomes below the state average.”
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“The holes in our state budget should not be fixed by the people who can least afford it. Instead of working to bring slots-like skill games to Virginia, lawmakers should focus on other options to raise revenue. For example, Del. Phil Hernandez, D-Norfolk, introduced a bill that would have created a new tax bracket for income that exceeds $1 million in a single year. This ‘Fair Share’ tax would have applied to only 0.4% of taxpayers and raised over $3 billion for the current biennial budget. Compare that to skill games, a mere Band-Aid estimated to bring in around $100 million over the same period of time.”
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“To the contrary, skill games give people the illusion that they could succeed based on their ‘skill’ despite the fact the odds — much like our economy and our tax code — are stacked against them. The General Assembly should keep these machines out of our communities and instead focus on restructuring our tax code in a way that is fair.”
Read the full op-ed from the Richmond Times-Dispatch HERE.
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