> The author is contrasting the disparity in attention given two two relatively-minor taxes with similar economic burdens. The economic burdens of the estate t

> The author is contrasting the disparity in attention given two two relatively-minor taxes with similar economic burdens. The economic burdens of the estate tax and the tobacco tax could hardly be more different. One is explicitly targeted exclusively at the very wealthy, and the other is effectively (though not explicitly) targeted at the poor. > Tobacco taxes are absolutely marketed as revenue raisers I'm not really interested in how they're marketed; I'm talking about the economic policy-driven justifications for them. > They aren't intended to reduce inequality, but another perceived societal ill--tobacco use and nicotine addiction. That's the Pigovian tax argument, which again, is completely different from the estate tax argument.