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The Tax Evasion of Big Tobacco in Italy – Balances Attached

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The tobacco market of the Italian boot is the richest in Europe. Last year cigarette manufacturers divided up a turnover of 2 billion 800 million euro... But how much tax do you think they paid on it?

Today in Italy, 99% of the brands sold belong to three foreign companies that have transferred all of their production abroad and, with various accounting tricks, they no longer pay taxes in Italy.

Philip Morris Italia S.r.l. – According to the latest balance, from a turnover of 1 billion and 463 million euro, Philip Morris declared only 22 million 515 thousand euro of profits. How did they do this?

Philip Morris now has all its cigarettes manufactured in foreign countries. It inflates the purchase costs and in Italy declares a ridiculous profit that entails the payment of only a symbolic bit of change in taxes. To manufacture a pack of Marlboro cigarettes costs no more than 12 cents. Philip Morris sells it for 71 cents, taking home a real profit of close to 600%. And this does not seem to bother anyone!

Philip Morris Italia S.r.l. – BALANCE 2010


Japan Tobacco International Italia S.r.l. – «You guys don’t understand anything: Italy lost the war and if Big Tobacco doesn’t pay taxes in Italy, you shouldn’t be surprised”, say the experts. But Japan, too, was a member of the “Ro-ber-to”, the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis, and the Italian taxpayer who buys a pack of Camels should know that the war has nothing to do with it. Japan Tobacco, paying not even a cent of taxes on the profits earned from Italian smokers’ purchases is just screwing them out of their money. The system, in fact, is simple: the Japanese produce all their Camels outside Italy and a foreign company, their associate with headquarters in Holland, sells them directly on the Italian market - without even filing an income tax report.

Japan Tobacco Italia Srl has its headquarters in Milan, the company’s declared activity in Italy is «Società di consulenza & pubbliche relazioni. Ingrosso beni durevoli vari», (consulting and public relations company wholesale various durable goods).

In spite of the 800 million packs sold in 2010, with a turnover of more than 500 million euro for the Dutch company, it reported income of a mere 49 million euro with profits amounting to a little more than 8 million euro. This, they say, does not derive directly from the sale of cigarettes, but from the commissions on the sale in Italy of Japan Tobacco International S.A.’s products.


Japan Tobacco International Italia S.r.l. – BALANCE 2010

British American Tobacco Italia. La sede di Roma, in via Amsterdam 147

British American Tobacco Italia SpA – When it manufactured a good part of its cigarettes in Italy, BAT was not free to circumvent Italian taxes like its cronies Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco were doing. In spite of its wishes, it was obliged to be the most generous tobacco multinational contributor to the Italian fiscal system.

But a year ago the company closed down its Lecce production plant in southern Italy and took all its manufacturing out of the country. The plant in Lecce was the last of twenty-one cigarette production plants of the ex-ETI (Ente Tabacchi Italiano).

So, after moving all its production abroad, what is BAT going to do now? In 2012 will it devote itself to promotional activities performed for third parties reporting negligible profits like Japan Tobacco? Or will it inflate its production costs and pay two cents of taxes at its own discretion like Philip Morris?

As we can see from the table, British American Tobacco’s profits in 2010 have already gone down significantly.

British American Tobacco Italia S.p.A. – BALANCE 2010

• November 20th, 2011
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• Tags: L'evasione fiscale di Big Tobacco