I had a lightbulb moment recently when I was thinking about the penalties applied to cigarettes. They're an unhealthy, and downright lethal, product, so the government imposes a fine of an increased sales tax on all cigarettes. It sounds like a responsible government taking action to make an unwholesome product less attractive to consumers, but is it really?
If the government were really trying to get rid of smoking, wouldn't they just ban it altogether? By increasing taxes on it, the government is now profiting from the sale of those cigarettes. They've become business partners.
Why would a government interested in the health and well-being of its people fine a company for endangering the people's health only to continually allow them to do it? Other than paying money to the government with every sale of their poisonous product, cigarette companies are continuing to manufacture and sell a lethal commodity.
They give money to the government, and the government lets them continue making and selling their cancer sticks.
A choice of words: Fine or Bribe?