Smoking a monetary boon; provides state and federal governments with billions of dollars in tax revenue every year

But there are many naysayers. Lauren Duran, spokeswoman for The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, told TheDC that Kudrin’s contention was misguided. “For every dollar in alcohol and tobacco taxes and liquor store revenues that hit federal and state coffers, these governments spend $8.95 cleaning up the wreckage of substance use and addiction,” Duran wrote in an e-mail, citing a 2009 CASA study.

If Kudrin had his way, Russians would buy cigarettes regardless of the price to benefit the state. In America, the higher the taxes on cigarettes, the more creative people become to avoid them. According to Michael D. LaFaive, director of the Mackinac Center’s Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, the high prices of cigarettes result in a loss of revenue to the government due to people quitting, smuggling, and changing their smoking behaviors (i.e. roll-your-own).

“Taxpayers are not sheep lining up to be sheared,” he said.

Outside of revenue considerations, according to W. Kip Viscusi, Vanderbilt University Distinguished Professor of Law, Economics, and Management, there is an argument to be made that smoking’s negative effects are ironically a net positive for society. “The estimated health risks from smoking have significant external financial consequences for society,” he said. “Studies at the national level indicate that cigarettes are self-financing since external costs such as those due to illnesses are offset by cost savings associated with premature death, chiefly pension costs.”

Either way, if Joe Biden believes paying one’s taxes is patriotic, who are we to argue.

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