Australia has the most expensive cigarettes in the world, following a devoted anti-tobacco campaign. While the campaign has been incredibly successful in reducing the smoking rate — the percent of Australian adults who smoke daily fell from 22.3 percent in 2001 to 10.6 percent in 2022 — the $1.50 (Australian dollars) per cigarette tobacco tax has Australia’s two million smoker die-hards turning to the black market for their tobacco. A pack-a-day habit costing A$240 (US$171 in USD) makes the illicit market for cigarettes smuggled into the country attractive, especially at A$10 to A$20 per pack. This has, in turn, been a huge financial injection for organized crime. The government has beefed up enforcement, seizing 2.6 billion illicit cigarettes and 509 tons of loose-leaf tobacco last year. However, the cigarettes themselves are so cheap to make — cost of goods sold measured in pennies — that the smugglers don’t take all that much of a hit when the cargos are seized.
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