Students signed petition demanding tobacco tax reform

Marking the World No Tobacco Day, human rights and research organization VOICE on 31 May submitted a petition to National Board of Revenue demanding tobacco tax reform in the upcoming budget.

More than 400 young students and professionals from different institutes signed the petition, said a news release.

The petition reads that Bangladesh is one of the largest tobacco consuming countries with 35.3 per cent of grown-up population addicted to tobacco.

Controlling the prices of tobacco products by imposing more tax has proved to be an effective way to reduce tobacco consumption.

Through the petition, VOICE recommended that introduction of a tiered specific excise with uniform tax burden where excise share will be 65 per cent of final retail price across all cigarette brands.

In case of non-filter bidi, specific tax should be 45 per cent of the retail price, the petition reads.