Bangladesh looks to break tobacco tax dependency

The draft of a national tobacco tax policy prepared by Bangladesh’s National Board of Revenue provides for a shift away from ‘dependency on tobacco for internal revenue collection’, according to a story in The Financial Express.

The proposed policy, which includes a time-framed action plan, is said to be aimed at keeping a tight rein on tobacco consumption.

It features also strategies aimed at reducing the illegal trade in tobacco products, the deployment of a health development surcharge and a ban on the sales of ‘bidi or loose cigarettes’.

Recently, Finance Minister A.M.A. Muhith hinted that Bangladesh could introduce cigarette tax changes that were in line with practices used in other countries. According to the country’s tax officials; 54 countries apply specific tax, 37 apply ad valorem, 57 use a mixed-system and 19 have no excise duties on cigarettes.

But Muhith vowed not to be involved in the micromanagement of the price slabs of cigarettes, saying the market should fix its own prices.

Meanwhile, MP Saber Hossain Chowdhury, who is president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, has suggested doing away with tobacco-product price slabs for the coming financial year.

The government was not getting revenue from the inflated prices of tobacco; so excise duty could be imposed on these “health hazardous items” at a fixed rate, he said.