For many, it is difficult to understand how we got to the point that a court would require the state to recognize same-sex marriage. Recognition of same-sex marriage would have been unthinkable to Iowans who approved the Iowa Constitution in the 1850s. To understand how we got here, looking back into recent Iowa Supreme Court precedent is instructive.
In 1994, the Iowa Legislature passed a gambling tax system that imposed a higher tax rate on racetracks than on riverboat casinos. The legislation was classic legislative sausage-making designed to improve the profitability of racetracks, through the authorization of slot machines, and riverboats, through the removal of bet and loss limits.
The Legislature also saw the compromise as an opportunity to raise more revenue from racetracks, which, unlike riverboats, could not pack up and leave the state if another state offered a better deal.
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Complete article at Des Moines Register : http://bit.ly/mADD5e
