15pc supplementary duty on cigarettes suggested

Imposition of 15 per cent supplementary duty on cigarettes and bidi could lead to reduction in 2.72 per cent consumption of cigarettes and 4.2 per cent bidi, an expert working in the anti-tobacco campaign said in the city Tuesday, reports BSS.

Presenting the keynote paper at a workshop, Campaign for Tobacco Free-Kids (CTFK) media and advocacy coordinator in Bangladesh Taifur Rahman said the 15 per cent tax could help the government earn Tk 18,117 million.

The workshop on 'Tobacco Taxation: Developing Media Campaign for Budget 2011-12' was organised by PROGGA, an NGO, in cooperation with Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) at a city hotel Tuesday.

Representatives from print and electronic media shared their views on anti-tobacco campaign.

Rahman said the country's 81 per cent people support higher tobacco taxation but it is unfortunate that a vested quarter is lobbying actively to resist imposition of higher tax on bidi in the forthcoming budget, ignoring its harmful effect on public health and bidi factory workers as well the tobacco cultivators.

The expert suggested that a specific tax should also be imposed on bidi side by side with the supplementary duty to help reduce the price gap between cigarettes and bidi.

He also recommended advocacy journalism to support imposition of higher tax and exposing the 'behind-the-scene' lobbying of the multinationals for drastically reducing tobacco use in the country.

Bangladesh is now one of the highest tobacco consuming countries in the world as around 43.3 per cent adult use tobacco and tobacco products, while around 27.2 per cent use other tobacco products.

About 42 million people in the country are exposed to passive smoking in public places and transports.

About 10 per cent of the world's tobacco users are in Bangladesh and the tobacco users have increased by 7.5 per cent in five years from 2004 to 2009.

According to a report, over 57,000 people die of tobacco-related diseases and some 16 per cent of all deaths of the people aged 30 and above are attributed to tobacco use.