Overheid krijgt aparte vrienden
In een tijd dat in de VS de accijnsen op tabak de pan uit gaan rijzen en ongewenste effecten op beginnen te roepen zoals smokkel en andere misdaad, krijgt de overheid plotseling steun van een aparte bondgenoot: Philip Morris.
Voor een bliksemactie tegen gesmokkelde en nagemaakte sigaretten die in Mei werd uitgevoerd doneerde de tabaksfabrikant $100.000, bood ze de bemiddeling aan met informanten en testte ze de in beslag genomen rookwaren.
PM is onder de fabrikanten al langer een buitenbeentje die zich in eigen voet lijkt te schieten maar waarschijnlijk in werkelijkheid met een aparte overlevingsstrategie bezig is die niet veel goeds voorspelt voor de eigen klanten….
“It’s been a great relationship,” says Michael Hoff, collections division manager for the Illinois Department of Revenue. He reports the Philip Morris folks provide tips on suspicious activity, help train agents and offer financial assistance. Though the department had to turn down a grant (it’s against state policy), “We work well together,” Hoff glows.
“They’re very helpful,” says a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department, which provided a few officers for a training video Philip Morris is using around the country. “Their security staff is available 24/7.”
At first or even second glance, there’s something odd about a company that fiercely opposes tax hikes on tobacco products spending millions of dollars a year nationally to help collect tobacco taxes. Kinda like the Hatfields helping the revenuers catch the McCoys.
But Philip Morris has its reasons.
“We have a serious problem when groups that use our brand are involved in criminal sales,” says Jack Holleran, Philip Morris’ senior vice president of compliance and brand integrity.
It’s a problem because bad things happen when Philip Morris products are imported without permission, Holleran says. (Any pharmaceutical executive would heartily agree.) In one Detroit case, proceeds from the sale of contraband cigarettes allegedly were diverted to a Middle East terrorist group.
It’s a problem because sometimes Philip Morris’ name is falsely put on inferior products produced overseas, thereby denying Americans the quality smokes they expect, he adds.
And it’s a problem because if local governments don’t collect the revenue they project, they may kick taxes still higher.
