The existing tier-based tax structure has failed to stop the increasing number of smokers and tobacco users, said speakers at a discussion yesterday.
The government must introduce a specific excise tax structure for tobacco products in 2022-23 fiscal, they said at an event organised by Progga and the Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) at Jatiya Press Club. "No change is possible until the government withdraws its share from British American Tobacco," said Dr Kazi Kholiquzzaman, convener of National Anti-tobacco Platform and chairman of PKSF.
While presenting the keynote, Hasan Shahriar, project head (Tobacco Control) of Progga, said the price of cigarettes in Bangladesh is the lowest among all South Asian countries, except for Myanmar.
He proposed that the retail price of low-tier cigarettes should be set at Tk 50 for 10 sticks, followed by Tk 32.50 as specific supplementary duty (SD), while for the medium-tier, the retail price should be set at Tk 75 and a supplementary duty of Tk 48.75.
For the high-tier products the retail price should be Tk 120 for 10 sticks, followed by a supplementary duty of Tk 78, while for the premium tier, the numbers should be at Tk 150 and Tk 97.50.
He also proposed to reduce the tiers to two from four and a specific tax structure for the non-filtered bidis and smokeless tobacco products, like jarda.
If the proposal is realised, the government can earn Tk 9,200 crores in addition to the current annual revenue of Tk 22,000 crore, he claimed.
Dr Rumana Huque, professor of economics at DU; Syed Yusuf Saadat, research fellow of Centre for Policy Dialogue; Mostafizur Rahman, lead policy advisor for Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Bangladesh; and ABM Zubair, executive director of Progga, also attended the event.
Source: The daily Star, 18 May 2022
