That’s a very good point, but of course the government is going to have to pay in some fashion for the health impacts of smoking. It’s sort of a weird situation for a government to be in, making profit from tobacco and shouldering the inevitable externalities. I don’t know the specifics of how that breaks down though, or if it’s still a net profit center.

Of course it may not matter in the sense that cronyism could ensure the burdens are placed on one group, and the benefits concentrated in another. I don’t know enough about China though, to say more.