I don’t know about that. Government can raise sin taxes to the point that it incentivizes the black market in the same manner prohibition stimulates the drug trade.
There is huge business in cigarettes with counterfeit tax stamps compared to booze, partly I think because nicotine is more addictive and because smokes are more compact and because gov’t has found it easy to continuously raise cigarette taxes while the booze lobby has a much larger consumer/voter base to protect them from the perpetually revenue hungry politicians.
I don’t know about that. Government can raise sin taxes to the point that it incentivizes the black market in the same manner prohibition stimulates the drug trade.
It CAN do that - but the near absence of a black market in alcohol indicates that it has not done so (yet).
There is huge business in cigarettes with counterfeit tax stamps compared to booze, partly I think because nicotine is more addictive and because smokes are more compact and because gov’t has found it easy to continuously raise cigarette taxes while the booze lobby has a much larger consumer/voter base to protect them from the perpetually revenue hungry politicians.
All true - but of the differences you note, I think the tax difference is the largest.