It\u2019s no secret that smoking has been on the decline in Australia, but here\u2019s something that might surprise you: more than half of the cigarettes sold in the country now come from the black market. That\u2019s right. It\u2019s not just a small portion anymore\u2014it\u2019s a major issue that\u2019s not only draining the government\u2019s pockets but also undermining decades of hard work to reduce smoking rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, how did we get here? Well, the rise of black market cigarettes can largely be attributed to one thing: the skyrocketing excise taxes on tobacco products. Since 2010, the government has been aggressively raising tobacco taxes, hoping to drive people away from smoking by making cigarettes less affordable. While this strategy did lead to a drop in smoking rates, it\u2019s also made legal cigarettes prohibitively expensive. In fact, a legal pack of 20 cigarettes now costs over AU$40, a far cry from what it used to be, details The Guardian<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Naturally, people who are still craving a smoke but don\u2019t want to pay these sky-high prices have turned to the black market. On the illicit market, a pack of smokes can be found for less than AU$15\u2014sometimes even as low as AU$10. As the price gap widens, more people are choosing the cheaper, illegal option, and this has caused the black market share to rise to as much as 55% to 60% of all cigarette sales in Australia, according to the government\u2019s illicit tobacco commissioner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n