Anti-tobacco activists demand tax hike on tobacco

Around 100 anti-tobacco activists from across the country on 5 May expressed solidarity virtually to the demand of imposing specific tax on cigarettes and all other tobacco products.

They took the social networking platform Facebook to stage their demand, said a news release.

The participants posted their pictures with the slogan ‘Raise tax on tobacco products-save young generation and others to ensure healthy Bangladesh’ on their social media handles, using a hashtag #raisetaxsavelives.

Their demand for raising tax on tobacco was to make the products unaffordable for young generation and people with lower income.

Chairman of Shastho Surokkha Foundation and Bangladesh Parliamentary Forum for Health and Well Being, professor Habibe Millat also participated in the virtual meet.

He said, “There is no alternative to control tobacco for the betterment of public health. Our economy will get stronger once we deal with the tobacco hazards. It is important for us to achieve the goal of making Bangladesh tobacco free by 2040 as promised by the prime minister.”

He added that imposing specific tax on tobacco would be an effective measure.

Non-government organization Unnayan Shamannay's chairman and former governor of Bangladesh Bank Atiur Rahman said that the government must make the tobacco products unavailable by imposing specific tax on them.

Prominent journalists, members of parliament, economists, physicians and others took part in the event.

Anti-tobacco campaigners like Dhaka Ahsania Mission, VOICE, National Heart Foundation, Sastho Surokkha Foundation, Unnayan Samannay, DORP and Progga jointly arranged the programme with the technical support from the 'Tobacco Free We'.

Anti-tobacco organisations have been advocating that tobacco tax and price hike would encourage 1.1 million grown-ups to quit smoking.

In the long run Bangladesh will be able to prevent untimely death and enable the government to earn additional revenue of Tk 34 billion, they say.