Andrew Williams wants government to look into excise tax "loophole".

British American Tobacco is preempting any government moves to implement a plain packaging law.

British American Tobacco has joined Philip Morris in attacking anti-smoking regulations.

A group of University of Otago academics went scavenging for empty cigarette packs in four cities and six towns.

All told, they collected 1310 binned packs. 45% of the scavenged ciggies were from Australia, and 16.7% were from China. Brands sold in 11 other countries completed the pile.

All up, 3.2% came from outside the country - meaning lost tax revenue for New Zealand.

From his team’s street sweep, lead researcher Dr Nick Wilson extrapolates that our government misses out on at least $36 million in lost tobacco tax and GST.