Over half of cigarettes avoid Irish tax in this Tipperary town
51% of cigarette packs analysed in Clonmel had avoided Irish tax
A new survey has found that no Irish tax was paid 51% of the cigarette packs found in Clonmel so far this year; this includes both counterfeit cigarettes and legitimate products.
Of this total, 10% were illegal counterfeit cigarettes.
Nationwide, the survey revealed counterfeit cigarettes made up 14% of the cigarette packs surveyed.
The results were contained in the latest Empty Pack Survey, carried out on behalf of JTI (Japan Tobacco International) Ireland, who say that since 2018, the Irish exchequer has lost approximately €5 billion in tax revenue, including around €1 billion last year alone.
Galway had the highest rate in Ireland where three quarters (75%) of the packs surveyed had no Irish tax paid on them.
In terms of counterfeit cigarettes specifically, the highest proportion was found in Wexford with a quarter (25%) of packs surveyed being illegal counterfeit products, followed by Ennis (20%), and Waterford (19%).
The Empty Pack Survey analyses discarded cigarette packs collected from public locations, and examines pack origin, tax markings and authenticity.
5,000 empty packs of cigarettes were collected randomly from streets and public bins across Ireland’s 22 largest cities and towns for analysis earlier this year.