The goverment wants you to smoke


The early deaths associated with smoking have economic benefits, according to a controversial report commissioned by Philip Morris Inc. According to the report, the Czech Republic saved about $147 million in 1997 through the deaths of smokers who would not live long enough to use healthcare or housing for the elderly. The study was compiled as a cost-benefit analysis and delivered to the Czech Government. It applied the savings against the income tax lost and cost of caring for smokers before they died. But tobacco industry opponents have attacked the report as an attempt to show that governments benefit from smoking related deaths.