I believe, I'm not going to hunt up the numbers, smokers, through taxes, pay more for towards government health care programs. Then they die younger, using less of their contribution than others, children, teens, etc. who avail themselves of government health care.
Governments heavily tax tobacco products for one reason only. It's "not the children", health care costs, they do it because they can. The majority of voters are not smokers, therefore they are not impacted ergo, they do not care nor protest. And, I suspect, tobacco users as a group do not exercise their franchise. So, why shouldn't government go for the "easy" money? Also, the majority of all eligible voters do not vote ever. A sizable portion of enfranchised Americans aren't even registered to vote. Well, except in Chicago of course.
