Retailers Against Smuggling has expressed grave concern that yet another excise increase will lead to further increased rates of tobacco smuggling directly impacting legitimate registered retailers. The group was reacting to Budget 2021 announced by the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD which included an increase of 50c on tobacco, bringing the cost of an average packet of 20 cigarettes to \u20ac14.00.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commenting National\nSpokesperson for Retailers Against Smuggling, Benny Gilsenan said: \u201cIt is very\ndisappointing to see honest retailers take yet another blow with today\u2019s excise\nincrease which will inevitably make it even harder to compete with a growing\nblack market. We have some of the highest rates of duty on tobacco products in\nthe EU and it is no wonder that Ireland continues to be a target for tobacco\nsmugglers, even while there is Covid-19 restrictions on travel in place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Revenue\u2019s 2019 Annual\nReport, its Illegal Tobacco Products Research Surveys revealed that 15 per cent\nof cigarette packs held by smokers surveyed were classified as illegal. Also,\nin the Department of Finance\u2019s own Tax Strategy Group paper it was noted that Revenue\nCommissioners have previously indicated that further increases in excise duties\nmay not lead to increased revenue yields. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Gilsenan added: \u201cWe\nfully expect that the percentage of smuggled tobacco on the Irish market will\ncontinue to rise because of the increase, voiding any potential gains to the\nexchequer. As consumers turn towards the black market, ultimately it is the\nretailer who suffers through the loss of not only the legal purchase of\ncigarettes but also any potential additional purchases that person might make\nwhen they are in the store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith Covid-19 restrictions\nset to be a reality of life for months to come and the looming uncertainty of\nBrexit, the detection and seizure of illegal tobacco products must remain a\npriority for Irish authorities, with increased awareness of the elaborate means\ncriminal gangs are utilising to transport these huge volumes. Revenue and An\nGarda Siochana must be given the correct resources to ensure that criminals don\u2019t\ncontinue to reap the benefits of the high cost of tobacco products.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Retailers Against Smuggling has expressed grave concern that yet another excise increase will lead to further increased rates of tobacco smuggling directly impacting legitimate registered retailers. The group was reacting to Budget 2021 announced by the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD which included an increase of 50c on tobacco, bringing the cost of an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,3,9,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-budget-news","category-cigarette-smuggling","category-fuel-smuggling","category-government-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":573,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions\/573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}