Anti-tobacco campaigners in the country have expressed strong opposition to the proposed tobacco taxation in the national budget for the fiscal year 2024-25, claiming it will make tobacco products “cheaper and more affordable,” negatively impacting public health.
In an immediate reaction, PROGGA and ATMA issued a statement on Thursday, warning that if the proposed national budget for FY 2024-25 is passed, it will once again make tobacco products more accessible. “It will encourage youth to use tobacco products, leading to an increase in tobacco-related deaths and illnesses. Consequently, government expenditure on public health will rise,” the statement reads. “The proposed budget will also result in the government losing the opportunity to earn an additional Tk10,000 crore in revenues.”
According to the joint statement, the proposed budget raises the retail prices of 10 sticks of low-tier cigarettes to Tk50 from the existing Tk45. “This means the hike per stick is only Tk0.50 (11.11%). The supplementary duty has been raised by 2%, from the existing 58% to 60%.”
The prices of 10 sticks of medium- and high-tier cigarettes are set at Tk70 (up from Tk67, a 4.48% hike) and Tk120 (up from Tk113, a 6.19% hike) respectively. The price of 10 sticks of premium-tier cigarettes has been raised to Tk160 from the existing Tk150, a 6.67% increase.
The statement said the supplementary duty (SD) in all these tiers has been raised by 0.5% to 65.5% from the existing 65%. On the other hand, the prices of 10 grams of jarda and gul have been raised by Tk3 (6.67%) and Tk2 (8.7%) respectively. The SD remains unchanged. In addition, the prices and SD of bidi have seen no change at all.
“It should be noted that, very recently, the 3rd report of Tobacconomics Cigarette Tax Scorecard has revealed a grim picture of the affordability of cigarettes in Bangladesh. Bangladesh scored 1.13 out of 5. The country’s score in the previous report was 2.38,” it added.
In his reaction to the proposed national budget, PROGGA Executive Director ABM Zubair said, “The retail price as well as the SD imposed on the low-tier cigarettes, which holds 75% of cigarette market share, has seen a very negligible change. We demand that the government set the retail price at least Tk60 and SD 63% so that it reduces the affordability of cigarettes, safeguards the youth, and increases the revenue of the government manifold.”
END/Al Amin/4:22pm