Bootleg Cigarettes

Smoking smuggled U.S. cigarettes is rapidly becoming as commonplace in Canada as was the drinking of smuggled Canadian liquor in the U.S. during Prohibition. Deeply resentful of the government's 182% cigarette tax, which has forced prices as high as 46-c- a pack, the average Canadian seems to feel no moral guilt whatever in buying the smuggled U.S. article at 15-c--a-pack less.

Border guards have tried to stamp out the smuggling with extra patrols and more careful searches. The courts have stiffened the penalties for large-scale smuggling, raising the customary $200 fine to $1,000 and confiscating trucks caught carrying contraband. But the flood, estimated at 50 million bootleg cigarettes a month, continues unabated. The price is too good, the demand too great, the border too long and too free.

Government officials admit privately that they are up against a taxation-policy issue rather than a law-enforcement problem. So many Canadians have switched to U.S. brands that the government's tobacco revenue has dropped $8,000,000 this year, in spite of the increased tax rate. Cigarette factories have begun laying off workers because of decreased sales. A cutback in tobacco taxes seems virtually certain in next year's budget, if not sooner. Said the Ottawa Journal: "The government has been given a lesson in elementary economics."

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