Most people have forgotten the meaning behind traditional or religious festivals

 
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January 1, 2020 
80.
 
Smoking 
The best way to prevent people from smoking is to impose high taxes on tobacco 
products. In this way, people will be less likely to develop a long-term addiction to 
smoking. 
To what extent do you agree or disagree? 
Some have suggested that the best method of reducing the number of smokers is for 
governments to raise taxes. Although there are economic disadvantages, I believe that this 
will have the greatest impact. 
The economic disadvantage of increasing taxes on smoking is that it will hurt the large 
tobacco industries in countries like the United States. In the USA, Phillip Morris, the largest 
tobacco company in the world, provides thousands of jobs and pays large taxes on its 
revenue to prop up state and federal budgets. If taxes on tobacco had their desired effect 
then many people would lose their jobs and budgets would be slashed. This is a sacrifice 
that many might be willing to accept but that would be nonetheless negative. 
Despite the aforementioned drawbacks, raising the cost of smoking is the best way to 
reduce smoking. A good example of this can be seen in a comparison of countries with little 
or no tax on tobacco products with those with high taxes. Indonesia famously has a 
particularly high number of smokers and the main reason for this is that the tobacco 
lobbies have blocked tax legislation, keeping the price of a pack below a dollar. In many 
European countries, smoking is on the decline because few can justify paying more than ten 
dollars for a pack of cigarettes. 
In conclusion, although it might have a negative impact on the economy and jobs, raising 
taxes on tobacco related goods will reduce smoking. If more governments embraced this 
approach, they would reap future rewards in reduced spending for medicare. 
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