From: HealthCanal
Cigarette tax increases could create a booming black market in illegal tobacco with increasing profit margins for organised criminal gangs who smuggle it into Australia, QUT researchers have found.
QUT School of Justice researchers Dr Mark Lauchs, Dr Vy Le and Elizabeth Rowe examined the shape of the illicit tobacco market in Australia and the probable players who supply and sell it.
Tax increases mean that by 2016, the taxed retail price of cigarettes in Australia will be $25 per packet, – or $1 per cigarette – the highest in the world.
“This tax is a worthwhile and effective public health policy, however, price rises create an incentive for people to seek cheaper tobacco from an illegal marketplace – a marketplace with an increasing profit margin,” Dr Lauchs said.
