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ShroudedNight 18 hours ago

I'm not sure what your point is here.

1) They don't sell for $3-4 a pack, yet your post seems to imply that the system has failed for cigarettes.

2) For externalities beyond the input cost of a product, the default [natural] condition is for those costs not to be included - one needn't enforce anything. Rather, it requires that someone with power put their thumb on the scale to enforce the inclusion of those costs during a sale[1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigouvian_tax

rixed 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Sorry it was unclear, I was replying specifically to:

> If cigarettes were 3-4$ a pack (which they would be without sin taxes and regulatory overhead),

Trying to show that 3-4$ a pack is not a more "natural" price for cigarettes than the current one, that it is a matter of perspective, and that if one wanted to construct such a natural price all externalities would have to be taken into account.