HST may push smokers to buy contraband butts
By Antonella Artuso, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF - Toronto Sun
Tory MPP Peter Shurman said the ill-gotten profits are fuelling the guns and drug activities of organized crime.
?If you increase the profit from contraband tobacco, which the HST will surely do starting on July 1, you will see a direct increase in the drugs and guns on our streets,? he said.
Shurman accused the Liberal government of ignoring the problem of contraband cigarettes despite evidence from the Ontario Auditor General that the province has lost $500 million in tobacco tax revenue.
Provincial taxes on cigarettes under the Dalton McGuinty government have gone up by 25%, he noted.
HST may push smokers to buy contraband butts
By ANTONELLA ARTUSO, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF
The Harmonized Sales Tax will push more smokers into the arms of organized crime, corner store owners say.
The additional 8% tax on cigarettes as of July 1 will give smokers even more reason to turn to much-cheaper contraband products, Dave Bryans, president of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association, said.
Almost 50% of cigarettes smoked in the province are illegal, up from about 15% just three years ago, he said.
The province has lost 2,400 convenience stores during the past few years, and this tax development will further contribute to this negative trend, he said.
Bryans said the convenience store owners are asking the provincial government to roll back the existing provincial sales tax on cigarettes by 8%, so the HST will be revenue neutral.
?How much more evidence does the government need before it takes action on this issue?? Bryans said. ?Why are they adding more fuel to a fire ...?
The HST will boost the price of an $80 carton of cigarettes by $6.40, while black-market tobacco sells for as little as $10-$15 for a bag of 200 cigarettes.
Tory MPP Peter Shurman said the ill-gotten profits are fuelling the guns and drug activities of organized crime.
?If you increase the profit from contraband tobacco, which the HST will surely do starting on July 1, you will see a direct increase in the drugs and guns on our streets,? he said.
Shurman accused the Liberal government of ignoring the problem of contraband cigarettes despite evidence from the Ontario Auditor General that the province has lost $500 million in tobacco tax revenue.
Provincial taxes on cigarettes under the Dalton McGuinty government have gone up by 25%, he noted.
Ontario Revenue Minister John Wilkinson said that as a result of enhanced enforcement, seizures of contraband cigarettes are up 50%, possession convictions have tripled and fines have now topped $14 million.
A combined effort by First Nations communities, Ontario, Quebec and federal governments and law enforcement on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border is required to halt the spread of illegal cigarettes, he said.
?We look forward to working with any group that can give us suggestions as to how we can knock back the scourge of contraband tobacco but we will not be lowering the price of tobacco,? Wilkinson said, adding that anti-tobacco groups support pricing that discourages smoking.