Sheer disregard for public health
Eleven thousand crore taka in additional revenues could have been raised from tobacco sector if the proposed tax and price measures from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare were adopted, anti-tobacco campaigning organisation Progga said in an instant budget reaction yesterday.
"The proposed budget not only ignored WHO's repeated health warnings but also showed sheer indifference to the opportunity of generating additional revenues and saving lives. The four-tier pricing of cigarettes has been kept untouched, thus continuing the option for consumers to just switch to a cheaper tier. This will also encourage the youth to take up smoking," the group said in a press statement.
The price for 10 sticks of low-tier cigarettes has been increased by only Tk 2, setting the price at Tk 39, which means the hike per stick will be only 20 paisa or 5.4 percent. Such increase is very negligible considering the fact that during the same time the National Income Per Capita (Nominal) has increased by 11.60 percent. It should be noted that 72 percent of all cigarette smokers are users of low-tier products. The supplementary duty on this tier has been increased to 57 percent from 55 percent.
"If the proposed budget is adopted, it will eventually reduce the real price of cigarettes and encourage its use," the statement said.
For bidi (local tobacco product), the increase per stick is negligible 16 paisa. For smokeless tobacco products, the price per 10 grams of jarda has increased by Tk 10, setting the price at Tk 40, which is indeed a satisfactory move, added the press release.
However, the increase is only Tk 5 per 10g of gul. As a result, the use of such products among women and the poor will not see any major decrease.
Overall, this proposed budget will have zero effect in generating additional revenue, preventing premature deaths and curbing spread of coronavirus, the statement also said.
The 37.8 million adults who consume tobacco and 41 million people who fall victim to secondhand smoke will remain in grave health risk. Above all, the sheer disregard for public health as evident in this proposed budget will hinder the realisation of a tobacco-free Bangladesh by 2040, Progga said in their reaction.
Comments