I have allways believed that people have the right to do what they want. People should have the right to smoke and non smokers should not have to breath it in. Plenty of places now have smoking and no smoking sections and it seems to work o.k.
I can remember when they tried to ban smoking in all bars ect in france - It lasted about a week
As for the tax thing, Smokers pay very heavy taxes - more so than people who drink all the time - Both can be as damaging to your health as each other !