As Sin Taxes Succeed and Pinch Revenue, States Double Down

States across the country are turning again to the wages of sin to help plug budget holes even as the payouts from such levies on vice dwindle.

Many states have enjoyed an oversized boost in recent years from so-called sin taxes on cigarettes and gambling—among other vices—but the benefit to state coffers has increasingly been fading. Tobacco tax revenue across the 50 states has declined, while growing gambling competition has eaten…