Quote:
Originally Posted by pigman
The taxes doesn't even cover the cost of health care the cigarettes cause.
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Absolute and utter bullshit.
Governments don't like to admit it, but financially, western countries actually benefit from smokers. Smokers, on average, die 10 years closer to their pension age than non-smokers. What do you think that saves in things like Medicare, pension payouts and health care costs?
The only reason studies consistently
appear to find the opposite is that they invariably consider "utility", and give it a monetary value. What that means is that they typically value each year of life added at $15000-$45000, and take that into the equation. That's not actual money, though - it's the "intrinsic value" of living an extra year.
Smoking is obviously bad, and it's obviously best not to do it. The argument that it costs society money, however, is false. In terms of actual money, it hugely benefits society. Most pension funds would suffer or even collapse without people dying from smoking-related illnesses, government tax income would take a significant hit without people paying sin taxes on tobacco, and health care costs would drop only slightly in the long run if everyone stopped smoking.