As the proposed budget for FY 2025-26 has kept the prices of and tax rates on all types of tobacco products unchanged, it will, once finalized and adopted, lead to an increase in the prevalence of tobacco use and subsequently, tobacco-related deaths and significantly reduce the government's revenue earning from tobacco sector.
Since the proposed budget has also missed the opportunity to merge the low and medium tiers of cigarettes, it will continue to allow consumers to switch to cheaper cigarette brands and avoid quitting the bad habit altogether.
However, the government can earn additional revenue, up to 20,000 crore from the cigarette sector, only if it adopts budget proposals raised by anti-tobacco activists.
Experts said this on Thursday during a post-budget press conference organized by research and advocacy organization PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) and Anti-tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA).
Citing the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), PROGGA and ATMA informed that the Per Capita Income (provisional) of the people has increased by about 11.5 in the last one year.
The proposed budget has kept the prices of bidi unchanged for the 6th consecutive time. The supplementary duty on bidi has also remained the same for the 10th consecutive time. This will make bidi business more profitable.
During the event, Syed Yusuf Saadat, Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said, "Since the prices of low and medium tiers are too close, it allows consumers to choose between one of the tiers. As a result, the effectiveness of any tax and price measures is not working properly. "
The discussants in the workshop include Mortuza Haider Liton, Convener, ATMA; Mizan Chowdhury, Co-convener, ATMA; ABM Zubair, Executive Director, PROGGA, and representatives of different anti-tobacco organizations.
