Tax $7.42 per Pack

[BigNick]

I'm not certain how I feel about "sin" taxes. If they were used for either "prevention", "treatment" or "health care", maybe I wouldn't be ambivalent. But, gummints just use the taxes to buy votes and then whine because they don't have enough money. Of course, I could be biased (or just wrong, heh, heh). YMMV

Here in Europe, taxes on cigarettes are not necessarily officially directly hypothecated to our (mostly single-payer) healthcare systems, but certainly they raise more revenue than the health system spends on treating tobacco-related illnesses. I think in the UK the figure is about $8 billion spent and $16 billion raised. (20 cigarettes in London will cost you about the same as in Chicago.)

There is an argument that this is leading to a slippery slope, with some governments suggesting comparable taxes on fat or sugar because of the healthcare costs of treating obesity. Denmark brought in one such tax, then scrapped it after a year because for a country where half the population lives within an hour's drive of another country, it's easy to avoid; plus, it put up the price of gourmet cheese more than that of Big Macs.

Also, obesity (and, perhaps, smoking) has a hidden benefit for governments, in that there aren't as many little old ladies taking big $$$ out of the state pension/SS system, followed by the health/Medicare system (chronic end-of-life care is what costs the big bucks; treating heart attacks is expensive per day but typically doesn't need that many days). See this article for more.