Tobacco Documents Online

aanow WA8IC-TS/' & TSE. ABC TV ' NMORK. fVW ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT NEW YORK 05/'03/93 6144 P.MI. AMpMq CJINDIDI;AK CIGARETTES r PETER JE3ati'!ZtOS' (ANLuOR7: For the last two wee3Cs, now, we've devoted some time every night to answering a question abo'ut'health care reform, which is all about medicine and money, and we're going to continue this week. In the latest ABC News/'waahingtou Post poll, which was published today, we find that nearly two-th3:rds of those we asked believe that a 52.00 a pack incre'ase in the tax, on cliaaTette'i, the so-cal~led, sia tax to help provide care 'or evezyone, ia a good idea~. Well, they've had such a tax in Canada f or some t ime:. AaC' s.7ohn NtcXanzie has been there to see how it' a working. JOih•T MC70ENZIE (REPORTBR) : A van pullis away' from the U.S. border heading for Toronto. Two Chmadiam police cars are in pursuit. The police were tipped otf about this shipment. Fow they muave ia.. t4KN' (CANAIDIAN' POLIGB OFFIiCZIL) : Yano'rn being placed under arre'st fcr poas!ession, of cigarettes. M0mam Smuggled cigarettes, 21 cases worth $40,000. SGT. AL Cvooi]A~hL (ROYAL CANIDCDI11N MOUIZTED POI.ICE) : The problem in growing faater than we can control and even if it stayed at the level it's at today, it is much beyond an enforcement problem'.. McXtZIE: It•'s estimated that one in every five cigarattesi smoked in C=a=da.is a C.anadian, cigarette that's been smuggled back into the country. costin,g the gavernment more than a billion diollarw a year in lost tax revenue. Here's what happens: cigarettes made i in Canada that are exported axe not taxed. so CanadJL'ans cross the border to buy them in tb+e.i7nited States for $13. 00 a carCon. They then smuggle them back into r-d-, where they resell the untaxed csi'garettes on the black market for the erPaivalent of' $26.00:, still well below the legal retail price of $410.00 a carton. Who''s selling it? JACVUES H'EAIILIEII (ROYAL C~1bID0IkN' MOW= P(iIrICE) : Burinessmeu. organized crime, known drug dealers, houswwives, pensioaera, government employees. M(7=IE': The cigarettes are smuggl'ed by snowmobd.'le, hidden in the holds of boats. tucked away in shipments of lumber. Few people are ever caught and!t'hose who are are, usually fined only a few thousand diolla:rs. )ndl the profits? SGT. cAR.L oOPP (ROYAL CAMIA'bT MOOm4'8D FOLICE9 : A small time operator can make himrelf a Covple of thousand dollars a week, depending on how busy hei wants to be. A big time operator -- Ii''m talking about the organized people -- they can do $10,000-$70,000- ~ $50,000 in the run of'a week.. 4A MlClENZ'rE: The higher taxes have made cigarettes more valuable 0 not only to smugg,lere. but to robbers. In' Ottowa, the raat'ioni''s capstal, there are about 20 break-ins a month with tobacco the carget. 8ere, three men head right for the i cigarettes. They doa''t even bother to open the cash register. While the higher'taxes have ~A Np• ~ created a highe'r crime rate, the government says the benefits far outweigh the costs.. ~ (('.oefd.)' co..P A"51

nAl oTTA JBLINEx (RE."VEMuE MRWIbTfiR)~:: The whole reason for us raising taxes on tobacco products was not to inerease our revenue but to reduce the use of tobacco by Canadians because of ' healthh reasons and coets. MQKZNZIEI: And it's working. Cigarette consuaption has been falling ek faster in Caneda than in the United States and Canada collects more in taxes than it ever loeee in smuggling,. 9ti11', the smuggling problem has forced the govaY=ent to raise the nutmber ot' police petrols along the border and to, toughen penalties fcr, tthose who are caught. The goal now,getting more smuggling tobacco into police: ehrediflers and out of the hands of Canadian smokers. John McKenzi'e, JCBC News,, Toronto.