One of the great perversities of the governmental war on smoking is the extent to which government profits from smoking. Jacob Sullum highlights the astonishing numbers in the May issue of Reason magazine. Last year, the tobacco industry’s profit on a pack of cigarettes sold in the United States was 23 cents. On the same pack, the federal government collected 24 cents in taxes and the states collected an average of 36 cents. Incredibly, 72 percent of the net proceeds from tobacco sales goes not to Big Tobacco but to Big Government.
No wonder even vehemently antismoking politicians never call for banning cigarettes outright: They don’t want to kill the goose that gives them so many golden eggs.