Existing tobacco tax structure too complex to reduce its use

A lack of effective tobacco tax measures has rendered tobacco products more and more affordable in the country over the years, said anti-smoking campaigners.

In 2016, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave a directive to simplify the existing tobacco tax structure and adopt a strong tobacco tax policy but the last six years have seen no progress in the implementation of the PM's direction, they said.

"Now it is the duty of the government machinery to follow the directive issued by the prime minister and those who are responsible for taking that lightly must be held accountable," said Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, convener of the National Anti-Tobacco Platform.

He voiced his frustration at a virtual roundtable meeting titled "PM Directive for Simplified and Strong Tobacco Tax Policy: Impediments and Way Forward" on Tuesday.

Research and advocacy organisation Progga and Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (Atma) jointly organised the programme in support of the Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids (CTFK).

As a part of simplifying the tobacco tax policy, the government should implement specific supplementary duty (SD) with a uniform tax burden (SD share of 65% of the final retail price) across all cigarette brands in the 2022-23 national budget, they added.

Professor Habibe Millat MP said, "The members of the parliament used to issue DOs against raising tobacco taxes in the past, but now they are issuing DOs in favour of raising tobacco taxes. We look forward to seeing positive actions this time by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the finance ministry."

For the low-tier of cigarettes, the retail price should be set at Tk50 for 10 sticks, followed by Tk32.50 as specific supplementary duty, in the medium-tier the retail price should be set at Tk75 and supplementary duty at Tk48.75, the experts proposed.

And in the high tier, the retail price and supplementary duty for 10 sticks should be Tk120 and Tk78, respectively, and in the premium tier, the prices should be Tk150 and Tk97.50, the anti-tobacco campaigners added.

The experts also recommended introducing specific excise taxes on bidis and smokeless tobacco products.

"The ministries of health and finance need to be on the same page with regard to raising tobacco taxes," said Nasir Uddin Ahmed, former chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

"It will be much more fruitful if the health ministry calls for meetings with the finance ministry to place this proposition on tobacco," he added.

Hossain Ali Khondoker, Coordinator of National Tobacco Control Cell (NTCC) and Additional Secretary of Health Services Division of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; prominent journalist Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul, editor-in-chief of TV Today; Dr Mahfuz Kabir, research director of Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS); Syed Yusuf Saadat, research fellow of Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD); Md Mostafizur Rahman, Lead Policy Advisor for Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK), Bangladesh.

Mentionable, 35.3% (37.8 million) of adults in Bangladesh use tobacco. Tobacco-related illness claims 161,000 lives a year in Bangladesh. In fiscal 2017-18, the toll of tobacco use in the national economy (due to medical expenses and loss of productivity) stood at Tk30,560 crore, which was much higher than revenue earned from the tobacco sector (Tk22,810 crore) in that year, according to the organisations.