Most Sinful States in America - Rankings of All 50 States

Image Source: kiplinger.com/slideshow/taxes/T055-S001-best-states-for-low-taxes-50-states-ranked-for-tax/images/intro.jpg

So an interesting article came out by WalletHub (https://wallethub.com/edu/most-sinful-states/46852/) that rated all of the states by a 'sin' factor.

A few notable rankings are:

• Missouri was ranked as having the worst problem with drug use
• Nevada was shown to have the worst problem with gambling
• Alaska had the most violent crimes per capita
• New Mexico had the most thefts per capita
• Wisconsin was the worst for excessive drinking
• Mississippi spends the most time on Adult Entertainment Sites
• The least sinful states were Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Maine and Vermont

One of the interesting bits of information they compiled is that these 'sins' can be very expensive to the nation overall.

For example, gambling costs the U.S. about $5 billion each year and smoking costs the U.S. about $300 billion per year.

So in light of this information, should vices like gambling and smoking have an additional tax added to cover the expense to our nation?

Or is it better that as a nation, we all share in the cost of paying for these expenses?

Let me know if the comments below which side you lean towards.