FINANCIAL REVIEW: The booming illicit tobacco market has wiped $6 billion from the federal budget bottom line in just five months and revenue from tobacco excise is now forecast to plummet to just over $2 billion a year by 2030.
The government raked in more than $16 billion from tobacco taxes in 2020, but the continued raising of the excise sparked a violent black market trade run by criminal gangs that has decimated the legitimate market and resulted in a massive fall in revenue.
The government is now spending hundreds of millions of dollars on dealing with the fallout, including $14 million in the budget to boost the ability of states to disrupt the illicit tobacco and e-cigarette markets.
In the mid-year budget update, the government expected to raise $5.5 billion in tobacco excise in 2025-26. Five months later, that figure is now $4.1 billion, or 24 per cent lower than expected, and will fall to $2.1 billion by June 2030.
Legal cigarettes cost about $50, of which $34 is tax and excise, while the readily available illicit product is priced at about $15.
NSW Premier Chris Minns in 2025 called on Chalmers to consider lowering the excise, saying it was contributing to the illegal tobacco industry, while economist Chris Richardson has labelled the continued raising of the excise one of the worst policies this century.
“We’ve cratered the tax take, stalled the fall in smoking rates, and invited organised crime into the everyday lives of more than a million Australians,” Richardson wrote in The Australian Financial Review in April.
The budget expert said the failure by successive governments to do anything about the issue meant it would now be much harder to fix.
“Organised crime will fight tooth and nail,” he said. “They’ve been a huge success at that already: after all, they fought the law, and the law lost. Given we’re now handing them a tasty $5 billion a year in risk-free revenue, they’ll be cashed up and cranky if serious efforts are made to reverse course.” » | Ronald Mizen | Political correspondent | Wednesday, May 13, 2026
And so it will be here in the UK with Starmer's stupid, undemocratic, illiberal, and ridiculous generational smoking ban! Mark my words! That law will have to be REVERSED, REPEALED! Free up the people! You will enchain them at society's PERIL. — © Mark Alexander
Showing posts with label tobacco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tobacco. Show all posts
April 02, 2017
November 21, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Tobacco company takes legal action against legislation forcing cigarettes to be sold in drab plain packaging
Tobacco company Philip Morris has launched legal action against Australian laws forcing tobacco products to be sold in drab, plain packaging from late next year.
Australia's parliament has passed laws compelling cigarettes, pipe tobacco and cigars to be sold in plain olive packs from December 2012.
While tobacco exporting countries including Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Ukraine have warned they may challenge the law under world trade rules, tobacco companies including British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco have said they may take action in Australia's high court.
Philip Morris said it's lawsuit could trigger compensation claims worth billions of dollars.
"The government has passed this legislation despite being unable to demonstrate that it will be effective at reducing smoking and has ignored the widespread concerns raised in Australia and internationally regarding the serious legal issues associated with plain packaging," Philip Morris spokeswoman Anne Edwards said in a statement.
The action is being brought by Philip Morris Asiaof Hong Kong, the owner of the Australian affiliate, through a notice of arbitration under Australia's bilateral investment treaty with Hong Kong. » | Reuters in Canberra | Monday, November 21, 2011
July 16, 2010
LE FIGARO: Des enfants produisent
du tabac pour Philip Morris : Au Kazakhstan, les fermes produisant du tabac pour le cigarettier Philip Morris font travailler de force des migrants et emploient des enfants, selon un rapport d'Human Rights Watch. L'entreprise américaine reconnait les faits mais tarde à agir. >>> Par Tristan Vey | Vendredi 16 Juillet 2010
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Tabakindustrie – Zigaretten bleiben ein tolles Geschäft : Die Tabakindustrie lebt mit Lokalverboten, Werbebeschränkungen und hohen Steuern. 50 Prozent Gewinn vom Umsatz sind trotzdem immer noch drin. Nur die Jugendlichen machen der Branche Sorgen. Sie rauchen weniger. >>> Von Winand von Petersdorff | Freitag, 16. Juli 2010
May 30, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: CEO of World Duty Free reveals plans to remove tobacco from stores as airport retail chain endures a £250,000-a-day sales hit from British Airways strike
Cigarettes will disappear from Britain's duty free shops after a period of being sold from "behind closed doors" as the Government tightens anti-smoking laws.
Mark Riches, chief executive of World Duty Free, Britain's biggest airport shopping chain, expects to set up closed-off areas for cigarette sales from 2013, in which the brands won't be on display. The company aims to replace its most profitable product ahead of an expected total ban.
"We're not kidding ourselves that we'll have the business forever," Mr Riches said. While such a move is not imminent, "that's the direction we're heading in," he added.
Such a development would come as a blow to smokers as cigarettes cost £2.50 for a packet of 20 from tax-free shops compared with £6 on the high street. The new Government is expected to review Labour's plans for a ban on displaying tobacco in all shops from 2013. Mr Riches said his business will take a total ban in its stride. Airport shopping has already been transformed "out of all recognition" since the end of duty free limits within Europe in 1999, he said.
At that time tobacco was by far the biggest seller. Now World Duty Free's (WDF) biggest business is beauty products, which account for around 50pc of sales. Among its most popular products are Gucci aftershave and Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle perfume.
WDF's cigarette sales are falling by around 5pc a year, while the company's sales rose 6.4pc last year and 8.7pc in the first quarter of 2010, with revenues at £126m. WDF has 85 shops in the UK, with a flagship store at London's Heathrow Terminal 5 which takes in £100m a year. >>> Amy Wilson | Saturday, May 29, 2010
March 09, 2008
KHALEEJ TIMES: DUBAI - The market for Islamic finance and banking is growing rapidly in the Gulf thanks to burgeoning wealth and attractive financial instruments.
Studies have put the total value of Islamic equity funds in the Gulf region at around 30 billion dollars (19.5 billion euros), said Khaled al-Masri, partner in asset management at Dubai-based Rasmala Investments.
“Investable wealth in the Gulf Cooperation Council is growing by one of the highest rates in the world ... This increase is being met with more product providers and products being launched in the GCC market,” he said.
The Islamic finance industry worldwide is worth around 700 billion dollars, Moody’s Investors Services estimated in a February report.
Economies of the six GCC member states -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- have been enjoying remarkable growth over the past few years on the back of record oil prices.
The robust economic performance has inflated local wealth in this Muslim region where many might prefer to seek profit through investments that do not contradict their beliefs.
The basic principle of Islamic finance is the prohibition of Riba (usury), which is correlated with interest in today’s banking.
Islamic funds are also banned from investing in companies associated with tobacco, alcohol, pornography, pork or gambling, all considered taboo by devout Muslims.
Some 125 Islamic equity funds are based in the GCC out of around 320 globally, said Mark Smyth, UK-based managing director of Failaka Advisors, an Islamic fund research company.
“Increasing familiarity with Islamic products combined with the presence of longer and more established funds seems to be driving the current growth, combined with strong returns,” Smyth told AFP.
Islamic finance provides a “solution for investors and consumers who want to adhere to sharia-compliant principles in their investment and consumption decisions,” said Masri, referring to principles in line with Islamic law.
He also pointed out that the sukuk (Islamic bonds) have become appealing at the corporate and government levels as a tool to raise finance, which in turn increased the size of the sector.
A report by the US-based Morgan Stanley investment bank published by the local press in February put outstanding issued sukuk at more than 90 billion dollars worldwide. Islamic finance expands as wealth grows >>>
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