CANADA TAX CASE
August 1st, 2003
BY MONICA DOBIE
THE CANADIAN federal government is suing the country's major tobacco firms for CDN$1.5 billion, alleging they illegally evaded tax by profiting from the sale of contraband cigarettes in the early nineties, while failing to disclose these earnings. A dozen companies have been accused, all of them part the R.J. Reynolds and Japan Tobacco groups, including JTI-Macdonald Corp. of Toronto. A related CDN $1 billion lawsuit was rejected by the US Supreme Court last year, which said American judges should not decide Canadian tax cases.
THE CANADIAN federal government is suing the country's major tobacco firms for CDN$1.5 billion, alleging they illegally evaded tax by profiting from the sale of contraband cigarettes in the early nineties, while failing to disclose these earnings. A dozen companies have been accused, all of them part the R.J. Reynolds and Japan Tobacco groups, including JTI-Macdonald Corp. of Toronto. A related CDN $1 billion lawsuit was rejected by the US Supreme Court last year, which said American judges should not decide Canadian tax cases.
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