Health Minister Wants Larger Share Taxes

MemoryMan

The government of Nepal should direct all the money its collects from tobacco products to the Ministry of Health and Population, Health Minister Mohan Bahadur Basnet told lawmakers on July 13, according to a report in My Republica. 

The Nepalese state earns an estimated NPR6 billion ($45.66 million) in tobacco taxes annually. The health ministry, however, receives only NPR4 billion, Basnet lamented.

The additional tax revenues could be used to add more doctors and health workers, he suggested.