You realize that virtually all of the cost of tobacco is TAX.
A good point — I had not considered that in my response. But it is in fact another instance of the same problem: there is no doubt that the state is paying for his medical care as well, so I say that the health care subsidy on one hand and confiscatory taxes on cigarettes on the other hand is at least somewhat balanced — until the better balance of zero subsidies and zero nanny-state taxes can be reached.
Isn’t PA raising cigarette taxes to support the Teacher’s union? Governments make a lot of money off of smokers and gamblers, mostly transferred from the poor and dumb to the richer bureaucrats and public employee unions.
And smokers save the govt. money by often dying before they get Alzheimers and more costly diseases, and before they receive a lot from Social Security and Medicare. Thank a smoker that your taxes aren’t even higher.