Tobacco Litigation II

So much for the old canard that you can't raise tobacco taxes for fear that it'll increase smuggling. Now several provinces are holding tobacco companies accountable for their role in smuggling in the past. First up is JTI:

Ottawa and the provinces are demanding about $10-billion in compensation from one of Canada's largest tobacco companies for tax revenues lost when cigarettes were being smuggled into Canada in the early 1990s.

The suit, which was originally launched by the federal government, claims taxes owed on both the smuggled cigarettes and additional money lost because governments had to lower taxes to compete with the smuggled smokes.

I'm disappointed to see that Saskatchewan isn't participating in this one, but it's a plus to see it going ahead.