Duty-free cigarettes costing millions

The Government is missing out on millions of dollars in tax because of cigarettes bought overseas, according to a study of litter by Otago University.
The researchers, from the university's Wellington campus, collected 1310 empty cigarette packets from the streets of four cities and six towns for the study.
They identified 3.2 per cent of the packs as being from outside New Zealand, meaning the Government missed out on at least $36 million in tax on tobacco and GST.
Lead investigator Nick Wilson believed the amount of missing tax was actually much higher, as it was not possible to determine which New Zealand-branded cigarettes had been bought duty-free.
The missed revenue could have been used for quitting campaigns.
"The scale of this revenue loss and the health implications are a strong argument for the Government to consider ending the sale of duty-free tobacco on entry to New Zealand, and to remove any duty-free allowance for incoming passengers, as in Singapore," Dr Wilson said.
"A further possibility is to ban the carrying in of any amount of tobacco altogether."