The broader term is a pigovian tax and there's tons of (economic) studies on the effects of them. The problem with crazy high taxes is it also increases the inc

The broader term is a pigovian tax and there's tons of (economic) studies on the effects of them. The problem with crazy high taxes is it also increases the incentive to circumvent them, legal or otherwise. One easy example off the top of my head is a person could stop buying them from a corner store and start directly importing them from outside the US. According to the press release at least one study suggests it would lead to 923,000 smokers to quit, which is a definite health improvement.