SARS plan to make cigarettes more like banknotes in South Africa

• SARS plans to introduce intelligence markers that are used on banknotes onto cigarette packaging to enable it to track individual cigarettes.
• The illicit trade of cigarettes costs the state R68 billion in tax revenue annually, with the cheapest illicit pack of cigarettes costing R5 and the cheapest legal pack priced at R37.
• SARS' failure to rein in the growth of the illicit trade sector has led it back to the drawing board, and this time it is taking inspiration from banknotes.