The price of cigarettes at the lower-tier should be raised to boost revenue generation for the government as well as minimise health risks. Speakers at a seminar said although the share of lower-tier cigarettes is almost 75 per cent of the whole industry, its price remained unchanged over the last two years. As a result, the number of smokers at this level is not declining.
There is no alternative to raising the price of tobacco products to turn Bangladesh into a tobacco-free country by 2041 as announced earlier by the government. The current duty structure for cigarettes is complex and it should be more simplified. Researchers suggested increasing tariffs on all cigarettes from Tk 50 to Tk 60. If this tariff proposal is implemented, the government’s revenue will be boosted while the number of smokers will be reduced by 13 lakh.
The government has already announced its plans to turn Bangladesh into a smoking-free country by 2041 and to materialize this there is no alternative to raising the duty on cigarettes and tobacco products. This will not only help alleviate poverty but also reduce the cost of the government in addressing tobacco-related diseases.
However, the government is in dilemma over tobacco as it wants to control tobacco on one hand while the government also depends on tobacco products for boosting revenue on the other. Bangladesh is one of the largest tobacco consumers in the world, and nearly 8,400 crore cigarettes are sold annually. Some 35.3 per cent of adults in the country use tobacco products. In contrast, cigarettes are the biggest source of value-added tax and supplementary duty for the government. It made up 30 per cent or Tk 25,362 crore, of the total revenue in the fiscal year 2019-20, down 8 per cent from Tk 27,618 crore the previous year.
Tobacco consumption caused 126,000 deaths in the country. The figure was 13.5 per cent of deaths from all causes in Bangladesh in 2018. We must opt for one policy and act according to stop cigarettes.
