What are the economic effects of the anti-smoking movement, what are its effects on smokers; current and future, and is it good or bad in an economic sense?
             It seems like every time that you are watching the television you cannot help but to happen to see an anti-smoking commercial. Whether it is Truth.com, I Decide, or some other anti-smoking group, the consensus would lead you to believe that purchasing and smoking cigarettes is bad for you. There has been a huge politically driven push towards the ban of all cigarette sales for the welfare of people, to help or force them to stop smoking due to the severe health consequences related to smoking. While the intentions of the anti-smoking are for the welfare of the people, some other questions must be taken into consideration. While there are many questions that could be asked a few important ones are; what are some of the economic effects of the anti-smoking movement, what are its effects on current and future smokers, and is the anti-smoking movement good or bad in an economic sense?
             To start off with there have been many economic effects of the anti-smoking movement. Possibly the most important and beneficial economic effect has been the significant increase in cigarette taxes. For example, in New York City, taxes on cigarettes recently have increased approximately 1800% over the old tax. This brings the price of a pack of cigarettes there to almost $7.50, with the tax accounting for almost half of the price(ABC News). The benefit of the tax of course is the tremendous tax revenues gained from cigarette taxes. In Massachusetts, the cigarette tax is the highest in of any state in the country. According to an Associated Press review of revenue statistics, every time in the last two decades that law makers have approved to raise the cigarette tax, an injection of new cash has flooded the state(TobaccoWeek.com). The tax revenues gained from cigarette taxes is one of th...