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by SOLAR_FIELDS 1536 days ago
Kind of tangential - the tobacco tax is a fallacy in another way: without taking into account quality of life adjustments, smokers are actually a net benefit for society in healthcare costs [1]. The simple reason is because they die earlier and most healthcare costs are incurred near the tail end of life, so by shortening those final years it becomes much cheaper for society to pay out.

1: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/6/e001678

1 comments

How many people die per year of second hand smoke? Smokers impact non-smokers significantly.