Campaigners call for hiking taxes in tobacco products
FE report | Friday, 13 June 2014
Anti-tobacco activists have hailed the newly proposed 'health development surcharge' in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY) but demanded increased taxation on all types of tobacco items including cigarettes, bidi, gul and jarda.
They said while the budgetary proposal to hike tobacco tax is 'positive,' it is not 'sufficient' enough to get rid of the growing menace of tobacco consumption in the country.
They made the call in a post-budget press briefing at National Press Club in the city Thursday.
Human Development Research Center (HDRC), Anti-tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) and PROGGA, an advocacy organsiation, organised the briefing to recommend budgetary measures to reduce use of tobacco products.
Economist Dr Abul Barakat presented the keynote paper in the programme. Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK) director Taifur Rahman, Executive Director of PROGGA ABM Zubair, among others, attended the programme.
In the proposed budget, the highest amount of tax has been raised on gul and Jarda to 60 per cent from existing 30 per cent.
Anti-tobacco activists said multinational companies will be benefit from the budgetary measure as price slab has been proposed to be raised significantly while minor upward revision on Supplementary Duty (SD).
In the proposed budget, tax on cheap and middle brand cigarette has been increased to 4.0 percentage point while tax on higher brand to 2.0 per cent percentage point. Tax on premium brand is set to remain the same.
Price on cheap cigarettes will remain same in the proposed tax structure while cigarette makers' profit will be increased.
Speakers at the programme said real price of tobacco item is lower in Bangladesh compared to that of other countries.
An eight-point recommendation made in the press briefing includes scrapping of the four-tier price slabs, increase of tax up to 70 per cent on retail price of cigarettes , bidi and smokeless tobacco, hike in real price of tobacco products, reduction of purchasing capacity of people for tobacco items, and proper enforcement of law.