FIGHT TOBACCO LOBBYING: GOV’T SHOULD QUADRUPLE OR MORE “SIN TAXES” ON CIGARETTES

Smoking tobacco (or cigarette) kills – this is a fact. Worse, it doesn’t affect just the smoker but those who inhale the unfiltered, “second-hand” smoke, too. So why haven’t governments, specifically ours, banned its use?

One reason may be that some in government are already addicted to smoking and have sympathies with the vice. Another is the powerful lobbying by big tobacco manufacturers, sellers and growers (lobbying can take many forms such as persuasion,
coercion and/or bribery). The latter is the more probable and more compelling.

Considering these, banning may be unrealistic to hope for. But raising “sin taxes” on these potentially deadly products shouldn’t even be a problem. Powerful tobacco lobbyists might argue that higher levies on tobacco products will only hit the poorest of society because they’re the ones who won’t be able to afford the exorbitant prices – but that’s exactly the point, right? We’re trying to save as many as we could of those who fall victim to this deadly and addictive habit – including (and more importantly) their “second-hand” smoke’s unwitting victims.

On the other hand, those who can still afford the product should rightfully be shelling out more in taxes so that generated revenues may be put into measures that actively deal with “second-hand” smoke issues and other consequential problems.