On Fri, 21 Jan 2005, Joe McCauley wrote:

> Maybe I'm just cynical, but governments have a huge tax take on
> cigarettes........

The factors that enter the equation are health system costs due to 
smoking related diseases. What nobody says is how much more the extended 
lifespan costs in old age pensions ... tainstaafl, and once the tobacco 
consumption wil no longer be a relevant taxation source they will have 
to tax something else *more* than that to make up for it, and for the 
extra expense of the pension plans.

Peter
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