Tobacco.org

• Honduras, Belize claim tobacco firms evading taxes 

Honduras and Belize, already trying to force U.S. cigarette makers to pay the healthcare costs of sick smokers, on Tuesday claimed in lawsuits that the companies systematically smuggled tobacco to avoid duties and taxes.

The U.S. lawsuits seek unspecified billions of dollars in damages and allege that Philip Morris Cos. Inc., the maker of Marlboros, and the No. 2 U.S. cigarette group, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., participated in rings organized to avoid taxes. The suits also ask that the practices stop.

The suits allege the defendants violated laws by participating in a smuggling ring that shipped tobacco products from the two Central American nations as tax-free exports and then re-imported them as a way of beating taxes and duties. . .

In addition to the new tax claims by Honduras and Belize, which have health-costs suits against tobacco companies pending in Florida courts, 14 Brazilian state and city governments also filed suits that seek damages from the cigarette makers for treating sick smokers.

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