Extent of cigarette smuggling in U.S. unknown, but expected growing
A U.S. General Accounting Office report to the House Government Reform Committee this week offered no a clear answer to how large cigarette smuggling is in the United States, but the watchdog agency said there’s every indication it has increased significantly in recent years.
Worldwide, cigarette smuggling is a multibillion-dollar business with potential ties to some terrorist groups, the GAO said.
“As cigarette taxes increase, so do the incentives for criminal organizations to smuggle cigarettes into the United States,” the agency’s report said. “Cigarette smuggling results in lost tax revenues, undermines government health policy objectives, can attract sophisticated and organized criminal groups, and could be a source of funding for terrorists.”
It’s estimated that each pack of cigarettes smuggled into the United States avoids the payment of 39 cents in federal cigarette excise tax, a median 3.7 cents in customs import duties, and a median 60 cents in state excise tax. Cigarettes smuggled into the United States have come from China, Malaysia, Korea, Rissia, Latvia, Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and the Philippines.
Cigarette smuggling cases are generally investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Legal initiatives have been proposed to enhance law enforcement efforts to stop the traffic of illegal cigarettes from entering the country. For instance, the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act bill would lower the threshold for a cigarette smuggling violation from 60,000 to 10,000 cigarettes, increase ATF’s authority to enter premises to enforce federal cigarette laws, and provide the agency with authority to use money generated from undercover stings to offset investigative costs.