It's not rocket science: increasing tobacco taxation encourages illicit trade
Tuesday, September 17, 2013 at 18:05
Simon Clark

Forest Eireann's John Mallon was on Ireland AM (TV3) this morning.

He was invited to talk about tobacco taxation with Kathleen O'Meara of the Irish Cancer Society.

John has written about the experience on the Forest Eireann blog – see Breakfast briefing. You can also watch it here.

At the same time I was on BBC Radio Merseyside discussing illicit cigarettes.

As in many parts of the country, nearly a quarter of all packs of cigarettes sold in the North West are illegal or counterfeit.

Tobacco smuggling, I pointed out, is the direct result of excessive taxation, but will the Government do anything about it? Will they heck.

Meanwhile, over in Dublin, tobacco control advocates like Kathleen O'Meara want the Irish Government to put another 60 cents (50p) on a pack of 20 cigarettes.

And they wonder why illicit tobacco is just as big a problem in Ireland as it is in the UK!

Article originally appeared on Simon Clark (http://taking-liberties.squarespace.com/).
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