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If a specific tax is imposed on all types of tobacco products it will play a major role in tobacco control besides increasing the revenue of the government as well. On the other hand, to prevent revenue evasion, a strong national tax policy should be formulated as soon as possible, as announced by the Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in addition to stopping the retail sale of cigarettes.They said these things in a press conference organized at Tafazzal Hossain Mia Hall of National Press Club Wednesday 16th November, 2022 at 11 am. Bangladesh Anti-Tobacco Alliance (BATA), Bangladesh Network for Tobacco Tax Policy (BNTTP), Bangladesh Cancer Society, National Heart Foundation and Work for a Better Bangladesh (WBB) Trust jointly organized a press conference on ‘Tobacco Company’s Most Popular Revenue Myths and Comparative Analysis’.
Under the chairmanship of Professor Dr. Gholam Mohiuddin Farooq (Project Director, Bangladesh Cancer Society), Dr. Mahbubus Sobhan (Researcher, Department of Epidemiology and Research, National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute) read the written statement in the press conference. Fahimul Islam (Consultant, The Union), Nasir Uddin Sheikh (Country Manager, Vital Strategies), Elias Khan (GS, Jatiya Press Club), Gaous Pearee (Director, WBB Trust), Helal Ahmed (GS, Prottasha Anti-Drug organisation) and Syeda Anonna Rahman (Head of Program, TC;NCD, WBB Trust) was present at the conference as an expert to answer the questions of media workers. Besides, more than 50 journalists from different media and about 50 representatives of various anti-tobacco organizations participated in the press conference.
Speakers at the conference said that two foreign companies have controlled the majority of the country’s tobacco business in Bangladesh. These companies have chosen our country to expand their business. They are only taking profit from this country. But they do not take any responsibility for the cost of diseases, sick people and economic losses, environmental losses, and other losses due to tobacco cultivation in this country. So we need to take steps to encourage people to buy healthy products instead of harmful products like tobacco. They also said that the goals of the government and the tobacco companies are completely contradictory to each other. Govt. is working to make the country tobacco-free by 2040 and on the other hand, tobacco companies are constantly working to increase the number of smokers in the country by increasing their business. The government’s objective is to fulfill the responsibility of the constitution, protect public health, and reduce health costs. On the other hand goal of the tobacco company is to make profit.
About the myth of Tobacco Company about revenue, the speakers said, a common myth in Bangladesh is that tobacco companies, especially British American Tobacco Company, pay the highest amount of tax (Tk 22,630 crore) to the government. But the reality is completely different. More than 95% of this huge amount of revenue comes from public VAT. British American Tobacco Company pays only Tk 816 crore. In addition, a study by Bangladesh Cancer Society in 2018 showed that the government spends more than Tk. 7.5 thousand crore on the treatment of tobacco-related diseases against the revenue earned by the government from the tobacco sector.
They also said that if the price of tobacco products is increased and specific taxes are imposed from the next financial year, the government will be able to earn an additional revenue of more than Tk. 9 thousand crore. Provision of specific taxation on goods is not new in Bangladesh. According to the Baggage Rules-2016, there is a provision to levy specific taxes only on the quantity without the value of the goods in case of import of several goods from outside Bangladesh. This provision also exists in the case of mobile SIM.
As no maximum/minimum words are mentioned before or after the retail price printed on cigarette packets and retail tobacco products are being sold at prices higher than the prices printed on product wrappers at various places. He also mentioned in the press conference that the government is losing about Tk. 5000 crores of revenue every year due to non-taxation of this additional value.
In the press conference, formulation of a specific tax structure on tobacco products, formulation of an effective and strong national tax policy for tobacco control, finding other strong means of tax collection by reducing dependency on tobacco, reducing the number of price levels from 4 to 2, banning the sale of retail tobacco, modernizing the tax collection system. Finally the speakers recommended that smokeless tobacco products, manufacturers need to come under registration and taxation system.