Bring tobacco products under tax orbit
Tax on tobacco should be increased by at least 25 per cent every year and a few other tobacco products need to be brought under tariff net.
Speakers at a press conference titled 'Work for a better Bangladesh' yesterday set forth these proposals along with others to be considered in the next budget session.
The consumption of tobacco products like leaf, jarda, gul and others is greatly consumed but still these items out of tariff orbit, they pointed out.
Currently, tax on tobacco and tobacco products ranges from 30 to 40 per cent in Bangladesh, one of the world's lowest. Contrastingly, India and Canada realise 58pc tariff each from tobacco affiliated products, Thailand and Brazil 75, England 79 and South Korea 68 per cent.
They also demanded 4-6 per cent of the revenue collected from tobacco be spent for anti-tobacco campaign every year.
Imposition of tax on tobacco products would have a positive impact as these items are consumed by poor people, who would for sure feel discouraged to spend more on the bad habits, speakers observed.
"The number of smokers or consumption of tobacco declines whenever new taxes are imposed. This was seen in China where ten per cent additional tax on tobacco products showed five per cent decline in tobacco consumption or, in other words, tobacco smokers also declined by five per cent," Syed Mahbubul Alam, project officer of the organisation, said in his keynote paper.
He pointed out that revenue collection from the fresh tax also increased by about five per cent, which is quite a significant amount of money.
Citing survey reports of World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Bank, Alam argued that if only 10 per cent extra tax is imposed globally, 42 million people would give up smoking in developing countries and lives of about nine million people would be saved in developed nations.
England experienced a slump in consumption by 16 per cent from 1997 to 1999 following slapping of additional taxes on tobacco and tobacco products. "Just in two years it dropped down by 16pc. Because those who gave up smoking are now aware and understand better about the bad effects of tobacco," Alam added.
The global consumption of tobacco is declining, read the keynote paper. In 1995, some 2.93 billion sticks of cigarettes were sold and in 1998 it dropped down to 2.58 billion.
"A survey in 1997 showed that 23 per cent of school children aged between 14 and 16 in Bangladesh regularly smoke cigarette. And the smoking habit among our new generation is increasing at an alarming rate," Alam said.
Debra Isroymson, regional director of Path Canada, project coordinator Sohrab Uddin and project official Amit Ranjan Deb also spoke, among others.
Comments