Then <i>that portion</i> is the tax, not the lottery ticket itself. In the same way that there&#x27;s a tax on alcohol, but the alcohol itself is not a tax because no one&#x27;s forcing you to buy it. The author himself states: &quot;The lottery is not a tax. The inflated price of lottery tickets is&quot;... which makes his headline &quot;The lottery is a tax&quot; shameless clickbait.