I mean, in some places. The tax is generally a disencentive to start the habit. I’d be curious to see a natural experiment comparing places with and without it as the US dropped it’s smoking rate to low teens (at least, until vaping became a thing).

I mean, not everyone in prison is innocent. Some of them are cartel members, gang-affiliated face tats and all. But I guess, statistically speaking, quite a few probably weren’t actually guilty of what they were put in for. Best not to think in absolutes.

Edit: clarified. That said, tats are not exactly something you’re born with and prison tattoos are a thing, and a real problem for people seeking reform after gang membership. Family friend of mine was in XIII but ended up a muralist and needed it removed.

Yup, I know. Actually, when they did this with cigarettes they did see it go down a little with adults but the main thing was that it helped reduce youth smoking. Teens have a tighter budget for these things.

But the bootlegging is unique to booze, so yeah.

I’m … kinda ok with this particular, but my father was an abusive alcoholic. Although, his vice of choice was vodka which probably doesn’t apply.

But fuck Trump tarrifs still, I just want a heavy booze tax, not some stupid man baby hissy fit with the rest of the world.

No surprise.

All of this is a bit of a waste, really. A lot of those people were already in US prisons to begin with. We’re paying ICE to re-arrest people. It’s so dumb.

That was my thought, too, but yeah. Occam’s Razor, our government is just run by really stupid people.