Experts urge tax hikes and crackdown on illicit tobacco
Failure to deal with smuggling will negate government attempts to reduce smoking, conference hears
25 June 2025 - 05:00
Extracting the full benefit of increasing tobacco taxes requires a simultaneous crackdown on the illicit trade in cigarettes, former Senegalese finance minister Amadou Hott warned delegates to the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin on Tuesday.
“If you don’t fight smuggling you won’t have the desired effect,” said Hott, calling for greater regional co-operation between nations to counter the trade in illicit tobacco, which refers to products on which the manufacturers do not pay tax...
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