PM's directive for simple tobacco tax structure remains unimplemented in six years

A prime ministerial directive to simplify the tobacco tax structure and adopt a strong tobacco tax policy has not been implemented in six years.

The lack of effective tobacco tax measures has rendered tobacco products more and more affordable over the years, experts said at a virtual roundtable meeting titled "PM's Directive for Simplified and Strong Tobacco Tax Policy: Impediments and Way Forward" on Tuesday.

This has put public health under threat and caused the government to lose revenue, they added.

The event was jointly organised by PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) and Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) in support of the Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids (CTFK), according to a press release.

Lawmakers, economists, journalists, and public health experts participated in the programme.

In 2016, Sheikh Hasina gave the directive.

Speaking at the event, Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, the convener of the National Anti-Tobacco Platform, said: “It is the duty of the government machinery to follow any directive provided by the Prime Minister and those who are responsible for taking that lightly must be held accountable."

As a part of simplifying the tobacco tax policy, the government should implement specific supplementary duty (SD) with a uniform tax burden (SD share of 65% of the final retail price) across all cigarette brands in the 2022-23 national budget, the anti-smoking campaigners added.

Habibe Millat MP said, “The members of the parliament used to issue DOs against raising tobacco taxes in the past, but currently they are issuing DOs in favour of raising tobacco taxes. We look forward to seeing the NBR and the Ministry of Finance take positive actions this time."

The existing tobacco tax structure is too complex to reduce the prevalence of tobacco use, according to experts.

For the low-tier of cigarettes, the retail price should be set at Tk 50 for 10 sticks, followed by Tk 32.50 as specific supplementary duty, in the medium-tier, the retail price should be set at Tk 75 and supplementary duty at Tk 48.75, the experts proposed.

And in the high tier, the retail price and supplementary duty for 10 sticks should be Tk120 and Tk 78, respectively, and in the premium tier, the prices should be Tk150 and Tk97.50, the anti-tobacco campaigners added.

The experts also recommended introducing specific excise taxes on bidis and smokeless tobacco products.

Nasir Uddin Ahmed, former Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), said, "The ministries of Health and Finance need to be on the same page with regard to raising tobacco taxes."

“It will be much more fruitful if the MoHFW calls for meetings with the MoF to place this proposition on tobacco taxes," he added.

Hossain Ali Khondoker, coordinator of National Tobacco Control Cell (NTCC), journalist Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul, Mahfuz Kabir, research director of BIISS, Syed Yusuf Saadat, research fellow of Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Md Mostafizur Rahman, lead policy advisor for Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK), Bangladesh, Muhammad Ruhul Quddus, former coordinator of the NTCC and Prof Sohel Reza Chowdhury, head of Epidemiology and Research at National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh and ABM Zubair, executive director, PROGGA joined the event among others.