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AAP
AAP
Politics
Tess Ikonomou

Call for tobacco tax to be cut as crims control market

An estimated 80 per cent of all tobacco consumed in 2025 was illicit, up from 12 per cent in 2017. (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS)

Australia's tax on tobacco should be slashed by up to 80 per cent to dismantle organised crime networks controlling the market, the federal opposition has urged.

The excise, which adds about $1.50 to the price of every cigarette in a pack, is driving an underground market that has led to a spate of firebombings and arson attacks.

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