VENDORS' indecision whether or not to sell cigarettes due to confusion over new tax rates has led to suspicion among smokers that storeowners are positioning to make more money out of the situation.
Some vendors say they are no longer selling because they are running out of stock, but some smokers insist that shops are hoarding supplies so they can later collect the higher prices for stock that is old and not yet covered by increased tax rates.
The Brunei Times could not independently verify whether or not the existing stock of cigarette products is running low and that no new supplies are expected anytime soon.
Shelves of sundry shops, however, show that most tobacco products have been sold out.
Vendors said they are declining to take in new stock since the actual retail price has not yet been fixed by the supplier and authorities. The government recently raised import duties on tobacco products as part of efforts to discourage smoking.
But the vendors' refusal to carry new stocks so as not to confuse customers has backfired.
A vendor in Lambak Kiri, Maideen said that he had several customers coming in and scolding him for not having any cigarettes in stock.
Others have also lashed out by accusing him of hiding the cigarettes so that they could be sold at a later date and make more profit on the old stock once the new prices were set.
"Since the order came out we have had nothing but complaints and accusations," said Abd Jamal Saleem, a shopkeeper from Sg Tilong.
"We don't really want to replenish our cupboards at the moment since we don't know the actual price to sell them at," he added.
"If we did sell them at higher pries without knowing the actual approved figures, customers will also start questioning us," said Abd Jamal.
He added that some customers even offered to pay double for a packet of cigarettes as some of them thought the vendors were holding back the supplies.
Noting the annual licence fee of $2,500 per year to retail cigarettes, the vendor said "the profit from cigarette sales do not really amount to anything".
Maideen said their drawers went bare once word of the price hike came around because people started buying in bulk just to stock up on their favourite brands.
He said that he even had to sell the ones that were on the display shelves as customers kept coming in and purchasing three to four packets at a time.
Similar experiences were shared by other vendors when customers came in to their stores.
Consumers, on the other hand, were more resourceful in their search for their nicotine fix.
Hj Hasbullah Hj Kassim, a smoker of 15 years, said once the stores near his house in Kg Tungku ran out he had to go to several remote areas before he was able to find his favourite brand of cigarettes.
"Even then I only managed to buy several packets since the shop was also running out (of cigarettes)," said Hj Hasbullah.
Reports on the sale of cigarettes in the country have turned up in several versions ranging from shops selling at a rationed pace of two packets per person to selling only a brand a day.
As a result, many consumers have no choice but to drive across the border to Kuala Lurah or Miri to get fresh supplies of cigarettes.
One consumer, who wished only to be known as Ngo, said he had not been reading the papers, and was caught unawares by the new tax requirement, which also lifts duty-free privileges for travellers.
Under the new regulations, anyone bringing cigarettes into Brunei will have to pay $0.25 tax per stick of cigarette, translating to $5 per pack of 20 sticks of cigarette, and $50 for one carton of 10 packs.
Ngo paid the $50 levy following an explanation by customs officers, but what he was unsure about is how the customs officials are going to determine whether the cigarette tax has already been paid?
"If I bring one carton of tax-paid cigarettes from Brunei into Malaysia, and bring the same carton back into Brunei, will they require me to pay another round of tax?" questioned Ngo.
"How are they going to know that this carton has already been taxed, and that carton is not taxed yet?"
According to Ngo, cigarettes that have been taxed in Malaysia will have a tax sticker on it, but no such measure has been used in Brunei.
"I'm not sure how are they going to do it, but I certainly hope they will come up with a system, so that we will not be paying the tax twice if something like that happens."
With the implementation of the new tax, the Customs and Excise office has been collecting the tobacco levy from many passengers crossing the border, and in order to prevent smuggling, they have made it a point to check every vehicle passing through the checkpoints.
Source: The Brunei Times
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