Scarcnet News Summaries (Advocacy Institute)
USA TODAY Offers Opposing Views On RJR's Role In Smuggling Ring
Length: pages
Abstract
Discussing the recent guilty plea by an RJ Reynolds affiliate charged with aiding a Canadian cigarette smuggling ring, the editors of USA TODAY argue: "What the tobacco industry knows but refuses to admit is that a steep tax hike remains one of the most promising ways to deter smoking, particularly among teens -- a fact revealed in its own internal documents. And that's why the industry has gone to such lengths to kill any tax hike, even to the point of becoming the smugglers' best friend." Robert Levy, of the Cato Institute, offers an opposing view: "Oozing self-righteousness, anti-smoking activists were quick to pounce on a guilty plea by an RJ Reynolds affiliate charged with smuggling cigarettes into Canada. One might have expected -- to no avail -- a parallel admission of guilt by the activists who were responsible for the huge increase in Canada's tobacco tax. . . . Ask yourself why 44 million adult consumers of a perfectly legal product should have to fork up because retailers and 1 million children break laws on the books in all 50 states banning sales to minors. The way to keep cigarettes from kids is to enforce those laws. If instead we depend on price hikes to dissuade teen-agers, we can count on illegal dealings dominated by criminal gangs hooking underage smokers on adulterated products, without the constraints on quality that a competitive market normally affords."
Sources: Editorial, "Industry Aids Black Market," USA TODAY, January 5, 1999, p. A16; Robert Levy, "High Taxes Fuel Black Market," USA TODAY, January 5, 1999, p. A16.