Crackdown on tobacco

A TOBACCO taskforce will be set up in this year’s budget to crack down on the illicit trade and raise $3.6 billion in revenue.

Tomorrow’s budget will include new powers for the Australian Taxation Office to charge duties and a requirement to obtain a permit to import tobacco.

It will also work to close down illegal tobacco crops known as “chop chop”.

The government says it has seized an estimated 98 tonnes of illicit tobacco this financial year. Had it been sold legally it could have netted the taxpayer almost $90 million in revenue.