Re:FDA Moves to Ban All Menthol Cigarettes and Flavored Cigars
by atlasunshrugged on Thursday April 29, 2021 @05:32PM
(#26987066)
Yeah, the point isn't to compensate insurers - they for sure get theirs and charge smokers more. It's to compensate healthcare systems and governments who foot the bill for 1) productivity decreases from smoking in the form of more sick days, more breaks, etc. and 2) people who don't have insurance and get cancer and are treated at the taxpayers expense
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:FDA Moves to Ban All Menthol Cigarettes and Flavored Cigars
by Clubber on Thursday April 29, 2021 @08:36PM
(#26988604)
It's a cash grab, make no mistake about it. They can justify it all they want, but they're fooling you.
Tobacco companies already pay states a bunch of money from their 1998 settlement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_Master_Settlement_Agre...
It's over $200 billion and growing. They're more than compensated.
Cigarettes and tobacco products are already heavily taxed for the user. Both the federal government and the state government makes a lot of money off people's addiction, and it's an addiction they can't break (obviously).
https://igentax.com/cigarette-tax-state/
Time to leave smokers alone. Many if not most of them got hooked as kids and as a society we just keep punishing them for their "moral failure."