Informative read.
The government is counting on it. They don't pass the tax to curb behavior. They pass it to cash in on someone else's addiction. And at the federal level, when it comes to cigarettes, they are also counting on a smoker's early death. As long as people continue to die prematurely from smoking, the government will save billions on social security liabilities. If everyone quit smoking altogether, the government would start subsidizing tobacco. Oh wait, they already do.
Ping
There’s a reason nicotine is the number one smuggled drug in America and it ain’t because its illegal.
Sin taxes are also very PC.
Want to tax an extremely unhealthy lifestyle that costs society billions in unneeded healthcare? costs? Then start heavily taxing the homosexual lifestyle.
Abortions have a host of health related issues. We need to tax them heavily.
Movies and TV cause much violence and bad behavior (if not, why did the Feds ban cigarette advertisements?). These need to be heavily taxed. Also include the entertainers.
What liberals never figure out is that what they impose on their “enemies” will one day be used against them.
They can have my field of two-row barley and my hops vines when they take them from my cold, dead hands.
Those who would impose these sin taxes also are ignorant of history and basic economics. The demand for liquor during Prohibition was quickly met by organized crime and the cost of enforcing Prohibition was considerable. Raising the price of cigarettes for example has some impact on demand, but the market will also seek cheaper substitutes often from illegal sources. If cigarettes are high in price, but remain legal to use, manufacture and import and the penalties (opportunity cost) for bootlegging them are relatively low it would be very profitable to engage in bootlegging. It is also very expensive to stamp out bootlegging if the product remains legal and popular in the market.