Munshi Alauddin Al Azad, retired joint secretary and member of the BDR Investigation Commission said “Projected reforms could reduce national smoking rates from 15.1% to 13.03%, potentially leading to 2.4 million adult smokers quitting and deterring 1.7 million youths from starting.”
On Wednesday, he made the projection about preventing deaths while demands for increased tobacco tax and pricing have been raised by Development Organisation of the Rural Poor (DORP) at national seminar addressing tobacco product pricing and tax reforms for FY 2025-26 budget held at CIRDAP Auditorium, alongside journalists, social leaders and policymakers as part of efforts to achieve a tobacco-free Bangladesh.
Presided over by DORP Founder and CEO AHM Noman, seminar attendees sought urgent reforms to existing tobacco tax structures. Special guests included Md. Akhtaruzzaman, Director General of National Tobacco Control Cell; Hossain Ali Khondaker, former Additional Secretary at Health Services Division; and Munshi Alauddin Al Azad, Member of BDR Investigation Commission.
Participants congratulated National Board of Revenue (NBR) for receiving World Health Organization's 2025 World No Tobacco Day Award, with First Secretary (Tax Policy) Md. Tarek Hasan attending on NBR's behalf.
Key proposal involves merging low and medium cigarette tiers, setting minimum retail price at Tk 90 for 10-stick packs. Speakers highlighted current narrow pricing gap between tiers undermines price hike impacts as consumers easily shift between categories. Consolidating tiers could potentially prevent approximately 900,000 premature deaths among young people long-term.
DORP Deputy Executive Director Mohammad Zobair Hasan presented detailed budget proposals including BDT 90 minimum price for merged low-medium tiers, Tk 140 for high tier and Tk 190 for premium tier cigarettes. Proposal maintains 67% supplementary duty, 15% VAT and 1% health development surcharge on retail prices.
For other tobacco products, proposals included Tk 25 for 25-stick non-filtered bidis and Tk 20 for 20-stick filtered bidis with 45% supplementary duty. Smokeless tobacco proposals featured Tk 55 for 10 grams of jarda and Tk 30 for 10 grams of gul with 60% supplementary duty, plus standard 15% VAT and 1% health surcharge across all products.
Md. Akhtaruzzaman criticised existing four-tier pricing system's inefficiency, noting minimal price differences enable consumers to shift between tiers, diluting control measures. He endorsed tier-merging proposal, stating FY 2025-26 budget implementation would discourage smoking amongst lower-income groups and youth.
Long-term benefits include prevention of 864,758 adult deaths and 869,000 youth deaths from tobacco-related illnesses. Additionally, proposed reforms might generate Tk 200 billion extra revenue—representing 43% increase over previous year.
NRE/HKJ
