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Better Farming Ontario Featured Articles

Better Farming Ontario magazine is published 11 times per year. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


The billion-dollar tax dodge on tobacco

Sunday, March 3, 2013

According to numbers acquired through a Canadian Taxpayer's Federation (CTF) Freedom of Information request to the federal government, Status Indians in Ontario purchased the equivalent of 70 cigarettes daily per person last year, along with 1,000 cigars annually. The fact that they don't smoke that much points towards a tax dodge by non-status buyers of between $742 million and $1.2 billion, just from contraband cigarettes in Ontario.

The CTF estimates that up to 79 per cent of all tax-free cigarettes intended for legal sale to Status Indians are illegally sold to those who are not, dodging $5.24 a pack in taxes.

Fred Neukamm, chair of the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board, allows that the contraband cigarettes may have been grown outside of the system. This year's legal crop is likely to be up somewhat from slightly more than 50 million pounds in 2012 because of increased demand from China. BF

Current Issue

September 2025

Better Farming Magazine

Farms.com Breaking News

Augusta Van Muyen selected as the 67th Grape King

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

Grape Growers of Ontario and Farm Credit Canada have announced that Lincoln vineyard manager Augusta Van Muyen has been chosen by her peers as the . Currently, the vineyard manager at Tawse Winery, Van Muyen, followed a path to success that took her across Ontario and the world.... Read this article online

Strategies to Optimize Market Returns in Ontario

Monday, September 15, 2025

Berkley Fedorchuk, grain marketing specialist with Hensall Co-op in Southwestern Ontario, recently shared insights into the current corn market and strategies for forward marketing during his presentation at the . With a focus on the Ontario and Eastern Canadian grain sectors,... Read this article online

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