Public health campaigners, researchers and activists at a dialogue on Tuesday demanded increased taxes on tobacco to increase revenue and protect public health.
Shastho Shurokkha Foundation that organised the national-level dialogue in the capital also urged the government to take measures for reducing use of tobacco products, said a press release.
Speakers said that Bangladesh has the highest tobacco use rate in South Asia at 35.3 per cent. Annually, approximately 1,61,000 adults die prematurely from tobacco-related illnesses. The government spends 34 per cent more on treating tobacco-induced illnesses than the revenue it earns from the tobacco industry.
Shastho Shurokkha Foundation, demanding measures to reduce tobacco consumption and mitigate the damages caused by tobacco, came up with several recommendations, including a significant increase in tobacco taxes, for the coming 2025鈥�26 fiscal鈥檚 budget.
The key proposals include: Consolidating cigarette tiers: reducing the current four tiers of cigarettes to three by combining the lower and middle tiers into a single tier; minimum price for a pack of 10 cigarettes in this tier should be set at 80 taka; increasing excise duty: imposing a 67 per cent excise duty on all tiers of cigarettes; raising prices for higher tiers: setting a minimum price of 130 taka for a pack of 10 high-tier cigarettes and 180 taka for a pack of 10 premium-tier cigarettes.
Director of the Bangladesh Cancer Society Professor Golam Mahiuddin Faruk said that tobacco use increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or lung cancer by 57 per cent.
Md Shahidul Islam, former member of the National Board of Revenue, Roksana Khan, joint secretary, Internal Resources Division of the finance ministry, Md Shibbir Ahmed Osmani, joint secretary for public health wing of the health ministry, and Md Mahsin, director general of the Autism Cell under the health ministry, among others, spoke.
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