People from all walks of life demanded an increase in the prices of cigarettes and other tobacco products by imposing specific supplementary duties in the upcoming financial year (FY) 2022-23 national budget to protect the youth and the poor.
They made the demand through a virtual human chain held on Sunday.
Participants uploaded their pictures holding festoons and placards with the demands and posted them on social media platforms using #RaiseTaxSaveLivesBD hashtags.
The event was organized by the research and advocacy organization PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) with support from Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids (CTFK).
According to the demands of anti-tobacco organizations, the retail price for the low-tier cigarettes should be set at Tk 50 for 10 sticks, followed by Tk 32.50 as specific supplementary duty (SD) in the upcoming budget.
In the medium-tier, the retail price of cigarettes should be set at Tk 75 and supplementary duty at Tk 48.75; and in the high-tier, the retail price and supplementary duty for 10 sticks should be followed by Tk 120 and Tk 78 respectively. In the premium tier, the retail price should be Tk 150 for 10 sticks, supplemented by Tk 97.50 as supplementary tax.
The participants said that implementation of the tax and pricing proposals may force an estimated 1.3 million adults to quit smoking and the deaths of 4.45 lakh adults and 4.48 lakh youths could be prevented. It would also provide the government with an opportunity to earn Tk 9,200 crores in additional revenues.
Read More: Control of tobacco
For non-filtered cigarettes, the retail price should be Tk 25 for 25 sticks, followed by Tk 11.25 as specific supplementary duty. In case of smokeless tobacco products, the retail prices for 10 grams of jarda should be Tk 45, followed by Tk 27 as 60 percent supplementary duty. For 10 grams of gul, the retail price should be Tk 25 and supplemented by Tk 15 as a specific supplementary duty.
ABM Zubair, Executive Director of PROGGA and a participant in the event said, “Increasing prices of tobacco products by imposing specific supplementary duties would raise government revenues and reduce tobacco-related deaths and losses.”
Bangladesh aims to become a tobacco-free country by 2040. The goal was officially set in 2016 when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared at 'The south Asian Speakers Summit on Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)'; that Bangladesh will be tobacco-free within 2040.
Cost of tobacco use in Bangladesh
The amount of health-economic damage caused by tobacco and tobacco-related diseases in Bangladesh is unbearable. More than 3.75 million people use tobacco in this country. Nearly 1, 61, 000 people die from various tobacco related diseases per year. Approximately 1.5 million adults are suffering from diseases caused by tobacco use and nearly 61,000 children are suffering from secondhand smoke. Diseases such as COPD, lung and oral cancer and many more are taking lives every day.
Economic losses due to tobacco use
Almost one fourth of all women in Bangladesh (25%) take smokeless tobacco. All of these are associated with huge financial losses. The estimate of the direct healthcare costs attributable to tobacco use amounted to BDT 83.9 billion annually. Some 76 percent of this cost is paid by individuals and 24% is financed through the public health sector budget, which represented nearly 9% of total government health expenditure in the fiscal year 2018-19.
