Illegal Tobacco Trade Drains $2.5 Billion from Canadian Coffers: Imperial Tobacco

Imperial Tobacco Canada says tobacco smuggling now results in billions of dollars in lost tax revenue every year for Canada, marking the highest estimate to date of the cost of illegal cigarettes. Smuggled cigarettes account for nearly 40 percent of the tobacco market in some provinces, according to the company’s submission to the Senate National Finance Committee. “Illegal tobacco is costing the federal and provincial governments $2.5 billion in lost tobacco tax revenue annually,” Imperial wrote to the committee, as first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter. “Meanwhile organized crime groups behind Canada’s illegal tobacco trade continue to use it as a cash cow to fund other criminal activities including drug and weapons trafficking.”...