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Alcohol and tobacco are legal, but you'll still land in prison if you get caught smuggling 20 tonnes of either.

by toomanybeersies 5y ago

bigyikes 5y ago
But nobody smuggles 20 tonnes of either because it’s legal.
- technick 5y ago
  Only reason I can think of smuggling Alcohol (Whiskey) would to be avoiding taxes on it.
  - devilbunny 5y ago
    Which are a substantial part of the cost for both alcohol and tobacco. When I was an undergrad in Virginia (home of Phillip Morris), a pack of cigarettes was selling for about $3.50 in today’s dollars - and that's for a brand like Marlboro or Camel. IIRC retail in NYC is about $20 these days. That’s a huge incentive.
- toomanybeersies 5y ago
  Tobacco smuggling is big business in Australia. Mostly because a regular pack of cigarettes costs $40 these days, compared to $15 for a pack of bootlegged Indonesian Marlboros. For the 2020 financial year, Australia imported 11,064 tonnes of legally cleared (taxed) tobacco. The government estimates there was 770 tonnes of untaxed tobacco successfully grown/imported, or 6.2% of all tobacco smoked in Australia. [1] Recently a guy was handed almost 2 years of house arrest for importing 10 million cigarettes [2], which is roughly 10 tonnes, give or take. There's plenty more cases where entire containers full of cigarettes have been seized. [1] https://www.ato.gov.au/About-ATO/Research-and-statistics/In-detail/Tax-gap/Tobacco-tax-gap https://www.ato.gov.au/About-ATO/Research-and-statistics/In-... [2] https://www.acic.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases-and-statements/man-sentenced-illegally-importing-10-million-cigarettes https://www.acic.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases-and-stat...
  - riekus 5y ago
    Last year I was worked Ng in rural Australia, there was a farmer close by caught with a field full of Tabacco plants. Hidden underneath taller crop.
netizen-936824 5y ago
There's not much reason to smuggle it because you can just set up a legal business to buy or grow and sell tobacco or make liquor or other alcohol products. There is some smuggling that happens to get around high prices or local bans but this isn't anywhere close to the scale of the legal market.

Alcohol and tobacco are legal, but you'll still land in prison if you get caught smuggling 20 tonnes of either.

bigyikes 5y ago

But nobody smuggles 20 tonnes of either because it’s legal.

technick 5y ago
Only reason I can think of smuggling Alcohol (Whiskey) would to be avoiding taxes on it.
- devilbunny 5y ago
  Which are a substantial part of the cost for both alcohol and tobacco. When I was an undergrad in Virginia (home of Phillip Morris), a pack of cigarettes was selling for about $3.50 in today’s dollars - and that's for a brand like Marlboro or Camel. IIRC retail in NYC is about $20 these days. That’s a huge incentive.
toomanybeersies 5y ago
Tobacco smuggling is big business in Australia. Mostly because a regular pack of cigarettes costs $40 these days, compared to $15 for a pack of bootlegged Indonesian Marlboros. For the 2020 financial year, Australia imported 11,064 tonnes of legally cleared (taxed) tobacco. The government estimates there was 770 tonnes of untaxed tobacco successfully grown/imported, or 6.2% of all tobacco smoked in Australia. [1] Recently a guy was handed almost 2 years of house arrest for importing 10 million cigarettes [2], which is roughly 10 tonnes, give or take. There's plenty more cases where entire containers full of cigarettes have been seized. [1] https://www.ato.gov.au/About-ATO/Research-and-statistics/In-detail/Tax-gap/Tobacco-tax-gap https://www.ato.gov.au/About-ATO/Research-and-statistics/In-... [2] https://www.acic.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases-and-statements/man-sentenced-illegally-importing-10-million-cigarettes https://www.acic.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases-and-stat...
- riekus 5y ago
  Last year I was worked Ng in rural Australia, there was a farmer close by caught with a field full of Tabacco plants. Hidden underneath taller crop.

netizen-936824 5y ago

There's not much reason to smuggle it because you can just set up a legal business to buy or grow and sell tobacco or make liquor or other alcohol products. There is some smuggling that happens to get around high prices or local bans but this isn't anywhere close to the scale of the legal market.