MEDIA STATEMENT
For Immediate Release
Tuesday
27 November 2018
SOUTH AFRICA LOSING AN EXTRA ONE BILLION RAND TO ILLEGAL CIGARETTES
SOUTH AFRICA is losing an extra R1 billion, now at least R8 billion in total, to illegal cigarette companies who aggressively grew their distribution and sales in the last three months.
The #TakeBackTheTax (TBTT) Campaign called this development, revealed by new research from IPSOS, “a terrible indictment on the SA Revenue Service (SARS)”.
The new IPSOS report, released today, shows that illegal cigarettes have now captured over 42% of the South African informal trade and are available in three out of every four shops in the country.
#TakeBackTheTax spokesperson, Yusuf Abramjee, says he is shocked by rapid growth in the illegal cigarette crisis, especially after a promised crackdown by SARS.
“We now have a situation where the biggest selling brand in South Africa, RG, is an illegal brand. That has, apparently, never happened before in any country in the world,” said Abramjee.
#TakeBackTheTax can also reveal that SARS’s failure to act against tax dodging manufacturers has now cost the country yet another billion Rand, with lost tax revenue going from 7 billion Rand to a massive 8 billion Rand.
“This is unacceptable and our biggest worry is that this figure will continue to rise even further – hitting the 10 billion Rand mark, if SARS continues to turn a blind eye to this illegality” said Abramjee.
Abramjee called on SARS to stop playing games with this issue and to actually start acting, as promised.
“If this is a SARS crackdown then the multi-billionaire bosses of the illegal companies must be rolling on the floor laughing.”
Last week, the Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA) officially announced that RG, South Africa’s biggest cigarette brand, is an illegal cigarette because it is not paying taxes. It is being smuggled in huge quantities into Lesotho and earlier this month the LRA seized 380,000 RGs on their way into Lesotho from South Africa. This was the largest single seizure of the past five years.
Abramjee asked why it’s left to the Lesotho Revenue Authority to take a stand against this fraud and tax evasion in South Africa. “Where is our own SA Revenue Service, and why are they not doing anything?”
Abramjee added that there’s also an added worry around small traders who are now at risk since illegal cigarettes are liable to seizure by SARS.
Abramjee said: “These massive companies, taking in billions of Rands in illegal profits, right under the nose of our law enforcement authorities are getting away scot-free while small traders take all the risk of seizure and closure for selling illegal cigarettes”.
#TakeBackTheTax welcomes the move by some retailers who are now taking action. Supermarket chain, SPAR has bravely decided to remove all illegal cigarettes from their shelves until their makers start paying their taxes.
“This is excellent news, and we call on all other supermarkets and retail stores selling fake cigarettes to be good corporate citizens and desist from doing so immediately” said Abramjee.
“Even the Nugent Commission of Inquiry said that there is no more time to waste – it is high time for SARS to wake up and take the fight to the tobacco companies themselves,” added Abramjee.
#TakeBackTheTax is committed to continuing with this campaign.
Over 22 000 members of the public have already signed a petition calling on authorities to act now and reclaim the billions of Rands in lost tax revenue.
To add your name to the petition go to TakeBackTheTax.org.za
On twitter: @takebackthetax
ENDS
Yusuf Abramjee
#TakeBackTheTax Spokesperson
082 441 4203
@Abramjee