Tax Damaging Choices, Not Beneficial Behavior

Mr. Medved, Taxing people who smoke and drink, causes them to smoke and drink less, or to quit altogether. This causes people to live longer, even to become elderly. Elderly people use far more health care over their lives. They use Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security,long term care, etc. far more than people who die at younger ages. The government knows there will be unintended consequences in its attempts to control our behavior, which will require ever more and intrusive government in our lives. The only answer is to reduce the power of government to control our lives. Bill