Everybody pays the same rate on what they spend but people who spend all of their income pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than does someone who only spends half of their income.
BTW,
the program does not exist. "Before announcing the new scholarship for adults, Haslam emphasized the early success of Tennessee Promise, which has sent more than 33,000 high school students to community and technical colleges tuition-free since he proposed it during his 2014 State of the State speech. Expanding that model to adults, he said, was a natural next step."
I agree that the lottery is a "stupid tax"...but I'm not so sure that Democrats play it any more or less than do Republicans. My biggest issue with the lottery is that it was sold as it was going to bring additional money in for education which hasn't been the case. It has just replaced some of the money that has been diverted from education. Lottery scholarships haven't made up for the rise in tuition costs