Tax lost to illegal smokes beats tax gained by legal pot
From: Toronto Sun | Opinion
***
This Deal of the Century, by the way, also, gave First Nations manufacturers access to importing all the new leaf tobacco and inputs — machinery, foil, et cetera — that allows them to produce high-quality cigarettes uninterrupted and unimpeded.
The result, of course, is that Canada is now swamped with illegal cigarettes because, with price-point being of significant importance, why would a person addicted to cigarettes pay $100-plus for a heavily-taxed carton at a convenience store when a carton can be bought on a reserve for $35?
