Public Health on Top

Locally-owned Cigarette Manufacturers' Association has raised demands to keep the tax rates and prices of low-tier cigarettes unchanged and also to reserve 100% of the low-tier cigarette market for local companies. Such demands have been voiced in front of the Finance Minister, State Minister for Finance, and NBR Chairman during the meeting of the 44th Advisory Committee of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) recently. The organization also claimed that 90 percent of cigarette market is now occupied by expensive brands, a claim that is far from truth. As per NBR, currently 75 percent of the cigarette market belongs to the low-tier brands. In FY 2006-07, the share of low-tier cigarettes was only 25 percent. Since the supplementary duty in this tier is quite low, the companies seized the opportunity by introducing brands one after another. It should be noted that, at present, the supplementary duty (SD) imposed on low-tier brands is only 58 percent which is much lower compared to the SD on medium (65%), high (65%) and premium (65%) brands. Therefore, the government must keep itself free from the manipulation of tobacco industry and set the price of 10 sticks of low-tier brands to BDT 60 from existing BDT 45 and raise the SD to 63 percent. This would reduce cigarette use and create opportunities to generate additional revenue.

On the other hand, protesting the budget proposals of Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) which demands a hike in taxes on bidi, a discussion event was held in Sirajganj, organized by bidi factory owners' association and bidi workers' associations.

We must keep in mind that hiking prices of tobacco products through effective taxation is the most effective tool of tobacco control. Misleading policymakers in this regard is a well-known trick in the tobacco industry's playbook. Those who plan and design the national budget must keep a cautious eye against such wilful manipulation.