Cigarette price hike not enough to restrain tobacco use, say campaigners

The proposed price hike in the price of cigarettes in the 2020-21 national budget is not enough to discourage people from using the tobacco products, anti-tobacco campaigners lament.

Their proposal to increase prices and taxes for tobacco products during the novel coronavirus pandemic in order to discourage people from using it was ignored, they said.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal proposed to increase the tax on tobacco products, calling it an initiative to decrease the use of tobacco while increasing the revenue collection, as he tabled the national budget of Tk 5.68 trillion on Thursday.

The budget also plans a price hike of other tobacco products like biri, zarda and gul.

The government could collect Tk 110 billion in revenue from the tobacco sector provided it followed their suggestion, the anti-tobacco campaigners said.

In the upcoming budget, ten sticks of low-quality cigarettes are proposed to be priced at Tk 39 with a supplementary tax of 57 percent, which were earlier priced at Tk 37 with 55 percent supplementary tax.

Prices for ten sticks of medium-quality cigarettes will remain the same at Tk 63 while the high quality ones are proposed to be priced at Tk 97 instead of Tk 93 for ten sticks and the very high quality ones at Tk 128, up from from Tk 123.

Supplementary tax for all three types of cigarettes are proposed to remain unchanged at 65 percent.

The minister proposed to price handmade filter-less biri at Tk 18 for a pack of 25 sticks, raising it from Tk 14, and Tk 9 for a pack of 12, increasing it from Tk 6.72. A pack of eight-stick biri is to cost Tk 6, up from Tk 4.48.

Supplementary tax for filter-less biri remains unchanged at 30 percent.

For filter-tipped biri, the price shot up to Tk 19 from Tk 17 for a pack of 20 sticks and to Tk 10 from Tk 8.50 for a 10-stick pack. The supplementary tax remains unchanged at 40 percent for this category as well.

Price increased for every 10 gram of zarda to Tk 40 from Tk 30 while every 10 gram of gul will be priced at Tk 20 from Tk 15, according to the proposed budget.

The nominal increase in the prices of zarda and gul will leave the women and the poor in a bigger health hazard, said Progga, an anti-tobacco platform, though they applauded the initiative.

The anti-tobacco organisations in the country placed a specific proposal to the National Board of Revenue to impose tax and 3 percent surcharge on two types of cigarettes and tobacco products, which has been overlooked, said Progga .

The government could collect Tk 110 billion in revenue from the tobacco sector, it added.

Progga criticised the proposed tax rebate to boost the export of tobacco and tobacco products in a statement.

“It is deplorable and an initiative against food crop farming and the environment. It will boost tobacco farming and derail the country from its goal to achieve a tobacco-free Bangladesh by 2040, as promised by the prime minister.”