Quote Originally Posted by drew_goring View Post
Tax Per Cigar: Value before GST per Cigar X 103% (Round up to nearest cent) with minimum tax of $0.20
per cigar and maximum tax of $6.27 per cigar.

That is just provincial tax. I think federal tax is around the same rate but not capped per cigar.
No surprise that non-Cuban cigar makers are reluctant to import to Canada.
Start with the price of the cigar.

i) Add in duty (usually nothing) + excise duty (1.85 cents/cigar)

ii) Add in excise tax (67% of the total in i) to get "Value before GST."

iii) Add in GST (5% of the total in ii)

iv) Add Provincial tobacco sales tax to the total in ii) (usually). Tax rates vary across provinces, just like they do in American states. Ontario's is 56.6% - no cap.

The major differences in US and Canadian cigar prices are due to:
- no cap on federal tax (In the US, federal tax is 52.75% - but with a 40.26 cent cap.)
- selling or transporting tobacco across provincial boundaries is (essentially) illegal. Thus, the out-of-state retailers that Americans use to possibly evade paying their state's taxes don't exist.

In any case, we're f*cked .