Over the years the tobacco industry has been blamed for constant problems in our society. It has raised several issues that have been seen as morally wrong. Despite all the warnings, society has neglected to acknowledge tobacco as a deadly substance and the tobacco industry doesn't seem to think of tobacco as deadly, they simply see it as a profitable toxicant. There have been numerous laws and regulations passed over the last fifteen years that address the successful tobacco tax increases, persuasive advertising and marketing, and the future of the tobacco industry. It is clearly evident that the success of the tobacco industry is tremendous and is destined to prosper in the future.
The increasing taxes on tobacco encourage people to give up smoking or never start in the first place. The conflict over increasing the "tobacco taxes has become perhaps the greatest morality play of the 21st century". (Lang and Marks 1996) .
Income for the government from tobacco taxes generates a large sum of money. The tobacco industry supports hundreds of thousands of jobs (in farming, manufacturing, and distribution sales), and excise taxes on tobacco products, for example, allow for "$12 billion being raised for the federal government, state, and local governments". (Lang and Marks 1996) Ever since the Civil War, tobacco taxes have been used as a way to raise extra cash for the nation during wartime or economic depression. Since the 1980's, the federal excise tax on tobacco has been used to help reduce the mushrooming budget deficit. With this goal in mind the government adopted several tax increases and by "1993 the excise tax stood at a $.24 increase per pack". (Lang and Marks 1996) Despite these trends, many governments have avoided taking action to control smoking because of the concern of potential economic harm. For example, some policymakers fear that "reduced sales of cigarettes would mean the permanent loss of thousands of jobs, particularly in agriculture, and that higher tobacco taxes would result in both lower government revenues and massive cigarette smuggling".
