smoking, alcoholism and obesity are fiscal positives, not negatives.
smokers pay obscene amount of money in cigarette tax for decades only to die in their 50's or 60's instead of collecting the benefits of having also contributed into social security all their lives. most of them die suddenly from a heart attack or after a short illness.
Its not that simple. Smokers that dont die suddenly (how many are those actually?) dont die much earlier because healthcare improved and also:
- kill/cause damages through passive smoke
- can/do cause enormous health bills (my dad struggled on for almost 6 years)
- cleaning up their trash costs money
- set fire to stuff with thrown cigarette butts
- often dont just die and just cant work anymore thus stopping working earlier, create less value in general
I'd love to read up on current studies/research but lots of studies are 10+ years old now but the damages seem to outweigh them not having a retirement.
smokers pay obscene amount of money in cigarette tax for decades only to die in their 50's or 60's instead of collecting the benefits of having also contributed into social security all their lives. most of them die suddenly from a heart attack or after a short illness.