200 MPs for tobacco

A staggering 250 lawmakers of both the treasury bench and the opposition have engaged in campaigns for and against a tax increase on tobacco products ahead of the upcoming budget.
Of them, 200 parliamentarians have sent demi official letters to the National Board of Revenue (NBR), urging it not to increase tax on tobacco products, especially bidi, while the others in writing suggested 70 percent supplementary duty (SD) on tobacco products in the upcoming budget, sources in the NBR said.
Rashed Khan Menon, one of those who sides with the tobacco industry, said he was against increasing tax on bidi as that would put the jobs of 15-20 lakh workers of the bidi factories at stake.
Others who have similar views, include Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee, Mojibur Rahman Sarwar, AKM Mohidul Islam, AHN Ashiqur Rahman and Md Afzal Hossain.
Those who support increasing SD on bidi, cigarette, jora and gul, cite the impact of tobacco on health, economy and the environment.
"We can't ignore health, economic and environmental issues just for revenue and employment of some people," said Saber Hossain Chowdhury, lawmaker from the ruling Awami League. If any product is injurious to health and causes damage to the economy and environment, its use must be deterred, he added.
Only the tobacco companies will benefit if tax is reduced while others will be losers, said Chowdhury, adding that findings in other countries had shown that tax increases played a significant role in controlling use of tobacco.
Food security, the environment and public health are threatened by tobacco, said Shefali Mamtaj, a lawmaker from the reserved seats for women.
"Thousands of trees are being burnt for processing tobacco while people die or face disabilities due to tobacco consumption," she said in her letter.
“The most effective way to have the use of tobacco reduced is to raise the price of tobacco through tax increase,” said Abul Barakat, chief adviser of Human Development Research Centre (HDRC).
According to a research conducted by HDRC and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, The government can earn extra revenue of Tk 720 crore by increasing Tk 4.95 tax on the retail price of a bidi packet containing 25 sticks. This will reduce the number of adult bidi smokers by 34 lakh and prevent another 35 lakh from smoking.
And if the tax on a packet of 10 cigarette sticks is increased by Tk 34, it will earn the country additional Tk 1500 crore in tax revenue and at the same time discourage 70 lakh youth from smoking.
Asked about the position of the NBR in this regard, its chief Ghulam Hussain told The Daily Star that tobacco was harmful for health but refused to disclose whether tax on tobacco products would be increased or not.
In a recent pre-budget discussion, he expressed his surprise at so many lawmakers' plea for waiving tax on bidi.
There are 15 percent VAT (value added tax) and different SDs on bidi, cigarette, jora and gul.
The last time the government increased SD on bidi is in the 2008-09 fiscal budget; from 17.5 percent to 20 percent. However, SDs on cigarette, gul and jorda has been upped in the following budgets.
Both taxation and price slabs of different tobacco items are very complicated and tobacco companies benefit from that system, NBR sources said.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO) studies, the prices of cigarette, bidi and other tobacco products in Bangladesh are considered the lowest in the world. It recommended increasing both tax and prices of tobacco products to reduce their consumption.
As many as 57,000 people die while 3.82 lakh become disabled because of tobacco consumption. Tk 11,000 crore is spent every year in Bangladesh for treating people who suffer from tobacco related diseases, says the World Bank.
Anti-tobacco campaigners say tobacco companies become very active every year ahead of the budget in dissuading the government from increasing tax on tobacco products. They also manipulate statistics and the number of workers employed in the tobacco factories.
Tobacco companies have claimed that more than 2 million workers are employed in their factories. But as per some independent studies, about 65,000 workers work in 117 factories.