![](https://www.ficcicascade.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/cigarette-crushing-thumb-300x170-885.jpg)
Expert raises concerns cig. tax could increase smuggling
A former assistant director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms says if state lawmakers approve a new cigarette tax for Philadelphia, smuggling could become a problem. Richard Marianos worked for more than twenty years on investigations of gangs and firearm trafficking operations, among other things. He believes that if lawmakers approve a $2 per pack tax as proposed, criminals will see an opportunity to sell cigarettes illegally on the streets. “They’re being sold on the black market to avoid taxes or they’re being sold on the black market to increase more criminal revenue and support more parts of a criminal organization.” “They will take the profit margin and they can invest more money in their narcotics trade, they can trade for more guns, and they can finance more criminal activity for the amount of money that they would be making.”
http://www.witf.org/news/2014/08/expert-raises-concerns-cig-tax-could-increase-smuggling.php
Related Posts
Customs officers seize more than $700,000 of knockoff Gucci, Chanel, other designer brands
Customs officers in Virginia have confiscated more than $700,000 of designer...
Gibraltar Government hits out at ‘sensationalist’ reporting of EU tobacco smuggling report
FAKE TV scenes depicting tobacco smuggling in Gibraltar have been slammed by the...
New Brunswick Must Continue Action Against Contraband Tobacco
Today, the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco (NCACT) encouraged the...
Salvatore Ferragamo intercepted 90,000 counterfeits in 2014
Italian luxury brand Salvatore Ferragamo has revealed the extent of its battle...