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> A few years back, there seemed to be a desire to justify cigarette taxes with a "it costs the state money when you get cancer" rationale. When you have guara
by 908B64B197 5y ago
> A few years back, there seemed to be a desire to justify cigarette taxes with a "it costs the state money when you get cancer" rationale.
When you have guaranteed pension funds for an ever growing number of bureaucrats, you HAVE to find new ways to tax. Taxing unpopular things is the easiest thing (and doesn't hurt for reelection).
- syoc 5y agoTobacco tax does not make or break any budget, at least not where I live. It is also taxed with the intention of reducing sales, which in turn reduces tax income. This is also by large the result.
- fennecfoxen 5y agoHeard of tobacco bonds? Financed with securitized tobacco revenues? While many of these are tobacco-settlement more than tobacco-taxes, they've done more to break budgets than to make them. https://www.propublica.org/article/how-wall-street-tobacco-deals-left-states-with-billions-in-toxic-debt https://www.propublica.org/article/how-wall-street-tobacco-d...