Cambodia’s tax increase proposals based on ‘confidential’ figures

Government data show that significant amounts of tobacco are being smuggled out of Cambodiaeach year, according to a story in The Phnom Penh Post quoting health and economics experts.

A national tobacco survey from 2011 showed that more tobacco was produced in Cambodia than was consumed there, and much of the difference came from smuggling rather than legal exports, said the World Health Organization’s tobacco economics unit head, Dr. Ayda Yurekli, speaking at a press conference on Wednesday.

The data from the tobacco survey was not made available at the conference because it is said to be confidential.

Yurekli and representatives of the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance called on Cambodiaand its low-tobacco-tax neighbours, including Laos, to increase tobacco taxes by more than 10 per cent so as to have a significant impact on public health.

“As the taxes increase, there may be incentive not to smuggle tobacco out,” Yurekli said.