Tobacco Documents Online

77 1 iTATON WABC-2ZJ 4 TSE ABC 'PV NETWORK ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGH'T Crff NEW YDR1C 05/03/'93 6r44 P.M. AtAlfNti CADDID IAN C I GAR.ETTE9 PETER JEDIIdINaS (ANt73OR) : For the last two weeks now, we've devoted some time every night to answering aqsestion about health care reform, which is all about medicine and money, and we're going to continue this week. In the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll which was published today, we find that nearly two-thirds of those we asked believe that a 52.00 a pack increase in the tax on ciQaTettes, the so-called sin tax to help provide care or everyone, is a good idea. Well, they've had such a tax in Canada for some time. .ABC's John FtcRenzie has been there to see how it's working. JOFaI !S(1KEtZIE (1tEPORTBR) : A van pulls away from the tT. S. border heading for Toronto. Two Canadian police cars are in purauit. The police were tipped off about this shipment. Now they move in. 1[AN (CnsADS.AIt POLICH OFFICER) s Ycu're being placed under arrest for posaeseion of cigarettes. WCICMZIE; Smuggled cigarettes, 21 cases worth $40,000. SG'T. AL GOODALL (ROYAL C71DD1DIAN HOOt2TF.D POLICE) j The problem is groving faster than we can control and even if it stayed at the level it's at today, it is much beyond an enforcement problem. MClCMzE: It's estimated that one in every fiv+e cigarettes smoked in Canada is a Canadian cigarette that's been smuggled back into the country, costing the government more than a billion i-/ dollars a year in lost tax revenue. Here's what happesas: cigarettes made in Canada that are .-~ exported are not taxed. So Caaadia"• cs+oss tbe border to buy them in the United States for $13.00 a carton. Thay then smuggle them back into ca*+-AA, where they resell the untaxed cigarettes on the black market for the eQuivaleat of $26.00, still well below the legal retail price of $40.00 a carton. Wbo's selling it? JACpIIPS H£71IILI8U (RDYAI. Q1N1DxAN NODNTED POLIC£): 'eusinessmen, organized crime. known drug dealers, housewives, pensioaars. government employees. W3aNZIE: The cigarettes are smuggled by snowmobile, hidden in the holds of boats. tucked away in shipments of lumber. Few people are ever caught and those who are are usually fined only a few thousand dollars. And the profits? SGr. CARL COPP (ROYAL CANADIAN MOIINTED POLICE) : A small time operator can make himself a couple of thousand dollars a week, depending on how busy he wants to be. A big time operator -- I'm talking about the organized people -- they can do 510,000-$30,000- $SO,000 in the run of a week. XCl0•1vZ2E: The higher taxes have made cigarettes more valuable not only to smugglers, but to robbers. In Ottawa, the naticn's capital, there are about 20 bresk-ins a month with tobacco the target. Here, three men head right for the cigarettes. They don't even bother to open the cash register. iihile the higher taxes have created a higher crime rate, the government says the bene€its far outweigh the costs. iCostw.J . coMwAM)