CHAIN SMOKERS BEWARE
A tax row between cigarette companies and vendors in southern
India may force smokers to go cold turkey with shopkeepers
planning to halt cigarette sales from Monday.
Shopkeepers want cigarette manufacturers to absorb a 12.5
percent value-added-tax imposed by the Communist-led government
in the southern state of Kerala from April 1. But the companies
have refused to do so.
"From April 16 onwards, no shops will sell cigarettes in the
state. We have taken the decision to register our protest," said
T. Naseeruddin, head of the United Business and Traders
Association, representing shops in the state of around 30
million people.
