Purchasing and Legality

Illegal Tobacco

Slide#11

Increase in tax will fuel the illegal tobacco trade. By over-taxing legal tobacco trade, governments put their public health and financial objectives at risk and promote the growth of a thriving criminal industry. Tobacco taxation is an important revenue stream for governments however it is important to be cautious and aware of the fact that these tax ‘shocks’ further increase the price gap between legal and illegal products.

With this being said, I want to briefly explain to everyone what Is illegal tobacco?

-Illegal tobacco refers to the supply, distribution and sales of tobacco products that evade applicable taxes. It includes smuggled products, undeclared local productions and all counterfeit and look-a-like products. There is no reporting to Health Canada on the ingredients being used in them. There is no control over the promotion and advertising of these products and they do not contribute into Federal and provincial taxes. The unlawful production, distribution and sales of cigarettes in Canada have reached record levels in recent years; making up 17% to 33% of tobacco consumptions. This was based on a study involving the examination of discarded cigarette butts at 46 sites across Alberta.

Slide #12

-If there is increase in illegal tobacco usage, the cost of health care will also increase due to the poisonous chemicals in them.

-According to the FDA government in USA there is substantial data demonstrating that counterfeit cigarettes contain higher levels of lead, cadmium, nicotine and other heavy metals than non-counterfeit cigarettes

-It also contains 160 percent more tar; 80 per cent more nicotine; and 133 per cent more carbon monoxide.

-There is a high demand for illegal tobacco because these types of cigarettes cost less than lawfully sold products, mainly because of the price difference between taxed and untaxed cigarettes

Slide# 13

These four graphs show that the poisonous chemical in counterfeit is a lot...