If we're thinking of taxation as theft, then this should be clear. Prohibiting people from making voluntary transactions under threat of violence is a different type of crime than theft.
By the way, though, I do think it's not as bad to tax luxury/vice items like alcohol. To me the more avoidable a tax is the less evil it is.
The more we go back and forth on this, though, the less I want to be defending the position I initially staked out. Even if the lottery isn't exactly a tax, the state has no right to be conducting a lottery and is only able to do so because it's violently suppressing competition.
If we're thinking of taxation as theft, then this should be clear. Prohibiting people from making voluntary transactions under threat of violence is a different type of crime than theft.
By the way, though, I do think it's not as bad to tax luxury/vice items like alcohol. To me the more avoidable a tax is the less evil it is.
The more we go back and forth on this, though, the less I want to be defending the position I initially staked out. Even if the lottery isn't exactly a tax, the state has no right to be conducting a lottery and is only able to do so because it's violently suppressing competition.