Public Comment Forum

Editor’s Note: The following  is presented as part of CRE’s commitment to ventilating the viewpoints of all stakeholders in the contraband tobacco debate. See here.

From: SBS News

Liberal Democrats senator has railed against the government’s crackdown on illegal tobacco, describing smugglers as patriots.

A crossbench senator has lavished praise on illegal tobacco smugglers, calling the criminals “patriots” and rejecting a crackdown on chop chop dealers.

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Liberal Democrats senator David Leyonhjelm said people dealing the tobacco, known as chop chop, were simply avoiding unreasonable taxes.

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From: IOL

 LOU-ANNE DANIELS

Trade union Fawu has embarked on a campaign to highlight the plight of South African workers who face losing their jobs to the ballooning illegal cigarette trade. Using the hashtag #NotJustAJob, Fawu’s tweets recount the personal stories of individuals employed in the South African tobacco industry who say their jobs are being threatened by cheap, illegally imported cigarettes.

These illegal imports are not subject to government’s ‘sin tax’ and therefore are sold on the streets for as little as R10 a packet, whereas legal, taxed cigarettes are priced from around R25 upwards.

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