Tax Justice South Africa has welcomed recent commitments to intensify the fight against the country’s growing illicit cigarette market.
Speaking before Parliament’s Health Portfolio Committee, Tax Justice founder Yusuf Abramjee said that SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter outlined a comprehensive enforcement plan to rebuild capacity and impose tougher penalties on offenders. Police officials also emphasised the need for minimum sentences to deter criminal syndicates operating in the trade.
“The rapid scaling up of the black market for tobacco has attracted the involvement of international crime cartels and emboldened these syndicates to invest in other illicit sectors,” Abramjee said.
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) pledged to expand its excise enforcement teams, tighten licensing controls, and fast-track prosecutions in a bid to curb the illegal tobacco trade and its wider economic impact.
VOC News
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