From 09
“Michigan Lottery sales, taxes on cigarettes and casino gambling plummet; Gov. Jennifer Granholm says revenue decline is ‘breathtaking’”
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/03/michigan_lottery_sales_taxes_o.html
Actually, in a country which has universal socialist health care (like Canada) it would make perfect economic sense to encourage smoking. We’re all going to be a drain on the health system when we’re dying, whether it’s of lung cancer at 45 or liver cancer at 85. If we die younger, the health care system saves the money it would have spent on cataract surgery, hip and knee replacements, and a myriad of other diseases of the elderly. And if the person dies at the end of his or her working career, the pension system benefits from a lifetime of paid premiums without having to pay out all the benefits that were earned. If you look at it from the perspective of cold-blooded economics, every socialist country should be passing out the smokes!
That’s what happens when you build your house on sin. It’s not reliable.