Safer to Puff, E-Cigarettes Can’t Shake Their Reputation as a Menace
The reality is that tobacco taxes fund a lot of the government, and there is no replacement for that income source if people stop smoking cigarettes.  Thus the tobacco companies are happy to lobby against e-cigarettes to protect their revenue stream and the government is happy to support them because it&#x27;s their revenue stream too.<p>It&#x27;s unfortunate, because it&#x27;s largely a tax on the poor.  The rich can afford prescription nicotine replacement and the higher healthcare costs for smokers.  The poor can&#x27;t, so they just die.<p>(I don&#x27;t smoke, so I have no skin in this game.  But I feel like if the government needs money, they should tax people proportionally to their income, rather than according to their bad habits.  People are self-interested and will always want more income, so there&#x27;s a steady revenue stream.  But if we want to tank public infrastructure because people decide they want to break an unhealthy habit, that&#x27;s ultimately self-destructive to society.)