Dr. Bradford Pressman, one of the founders of "My Ohio Now" (http://www.myohionow.com/) which resolves to http://www.yesonissue6.com should be ashamed of himself.
Seriously.
Let's read the facts from his own website:
To adopt Section 6a to Article XV of the Ohio Constitution
This proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution would:
- Authorize one privately owned casino with a required minimum initial investment of $600 million on a 94-acre site located near the northwest corner of State Route 73 and Interstate 71 in southwest Ohio in Chester Township near Wilmington, Clinton County, Ohio.
In other words, let's have a monopoly. "Authorize one privately owned casino..." In fact, the company that claims rights to the specified land is an out-of-state operator of Native American casinos.
2. Require the casino to pay a tax of up to 30% on its gross receipts for gaming less payouts. The taxes are to be used first to pay expenses of regulating and collecting taxes from the casino, then for funding of gambling prevention and treatment programs, and the remainder to be distributed in the amount of 10% to Clinton County and 90% to the remaining counties based on population and to be used at each county's discretion.
OK.... "...up to 30%..." Up to could obviously be zero. Even if it were the full 30%, that means that they would be free to take 70% of the profits out of the State of Ohio, where it would do nothing to help the Ohio economy, which (again, according to Dr. Pressman's own words) is supposedly what this is about.
In my opinion, Issue 6 would be a disaster for the Buckeye State. Go to the State's website and check the facts for yourself. There are a number of other loopholes in the law as written.
From http://www.issue6facts.com/ : "An especially shocking loophole in 6 would actually reduce the casino’s tax rate to zero if an Indian casino opens in Ohio. The out-of-state operator promoting 6 has publicly admitted this loophole, claiming it was a mistake. But it just so happens that their business is operating casinos for Indian tribes! In fact, 6 could open the door to full-scale Indian casinos from as many as 12 Indian tribes that have already filed letters of intent for federal recognition for land across Ohio."
It gets worse, folks. A lot worse. Dr. Pressman - you. Should. Be. Ashamed.
The issue, as it appears on the State's web site, seems to have been written to say that a regulatory bureaucracy would be set up later, but gives no specifics on the oversite group's authority. It appears to mean that those same corrupt politicians and their lobbyists who gave us the Mother of All Bailouts would be running it.
And we know how that worked out.
I can safely say that Issue 6, from my reading of it, stinks.
Again, go to the State of Ohio's web site for the complete bill.
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