Fin. Min. orders investigation into cigarette producers and traders industry

Deputy Finance Minister Jan Rudowski has ordered Tax Offices and Tax Inspection Offices (UKS) to scrutinize cigarette manufacturers and importers. The exercise is aimed at catching those that were defying a directive to print the price of the cigarettes on the package. Culprits risk imprisonment or hefty fines and in extreme cases could face both penalties. Cigarette traders have been using a legal loophole. They are supposed to pay duty based on 70% of the retail price, but without the labeling the Tax Office does not know what that price is. So retailers simply declare to the Tax Office that their selling price is the same as the price they buy it from producers thereby minimizing the amount they must pay to the Treasury. (Rzeczpospolita, page B3)