Cigarettes come with significant health risks, regardless of where you get them from. Smoking has proven health effects with association with several non-communicable diseases, including heart failure and cancer. However, being a lifestyle choice set exclusively for adults, consumers are responsible enough to know that they would want their cigarettes from the safest sources, made using the best possible practices and are not associated with illegal activity.
This is why responsible smokers will choose cigarettes coming from legal sources instead of illicit cigarettes.
The trade and sale of illicit cigarettes, cigarettes either smuggled into the country or without registration, affects the consumer by giving them access to cigarettes that use unregulated manufacturing practices and may use more of the already harmful chemicals and carcinogens than in cigarettes manufactured by regulated companies.
It also affects legitimate manufacturers, who may lose significant revenue as they compete with illicit brands.
While the Ministry of Trade, the TTMA and local manufacturers of cigarettes have made strides in tackling the illicit cigarette trade, illicit cigarettes continue to find its way into the hands of Trinidad and Tobago consumers.
Now, with the illicit cigarette industry growing exponentially, it is affecting government revenue by avoiding taxes that would have otherwise been paid through legitimate cigarette manufacturers.
Millions going up in smoke
In 2020, the TTMA, through the Illicit Trade Desk, estimated that the illicit trade of cigarettes cost the country $30 million.
The Illicit Trade Desk was formed in 2018 to support members who were challenged with the issue of illicit trade and smuggling of items. Along with cigarettes, the Illicit Trade Desk has been involved in cases related to alcohol, pharmaceuticals, clothing and footwear, butter, oil and cleaning agents.
While it is not an enforcement agency, it supports initiatives geared toward eradicating illicit trade through public awareness initiatives, educational sessions, training and articles to ensure the topic is at the front of all stakeholders’ minds.
The $30 million estimate was based on potential losses in VAT, corporation tax, Green Fund tax and excise duties. The Illicit Trade Desk said this amounted to a reduction of overall revenue by ten per cent.
In April this year, the managing director of the West Indian Tobacco Co (Witco), Raoul Glynn, said for his company, the number is also significant.
“We have a conservative estimate of 20 per cent (of overall revenue),” he said at a media conference following the company’s AGM on April 23.
He explained that the company does a product survey counting discarded cigarette butts in trash cans and garbage bins.
“I can’t look for import data on illicit products because they don’t keep legal records.”
He said one of the contributors to the growth of the industry is consumer demand for cheap cigarettes. Because it evades taxes and duties, people can sell illicit cigarettes che
