The Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) has proposed a major overhaul of tobacco taxation, including price restructuring and specific duties, at a pre-budget discussion with the National Board of Revenue (NBR), aiming to boost revenue and reduce tobacco-related deaths.
It said merging the low and medium tiers of cigarettes into a single tier and setting the retail price at Tk 100 per 10 sticks, Tk 150 for the high tier, and Tk 200 or above for premium cigarettes, along with introducing a specific tax of Tk 4 per 10-stick pack on top of the existing 67% supplementary duty will generate approximately Tk 44,000 crore in additional revenue compared to the current fiscal year.
At the same time, it will prevent around 400,000 premature deaths in the long term.
The proposals were presented on Tuesday at a pre-budget discussion with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) held at its conference room.
During the meeting, NBR Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan said, “Increasing tobacco taxes and prices reduces cigarette consumption. Accordingly, further increases in taxes and prices will be considered in the future.”
It was stated at the discussion meeting that due to the lack of effective price increases, the real prices of cigarettes and other tobacco products are declining, making them cheaper relative to essential commodities.
According to 2025 data from the World Health Organization, the price of the most sold cigarette brands in Bangladesh remains lower than in Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal, and India.
To effectively increase tobacco product prices, 69 countries worldwide, including India, Thailand and Turkey, have already introduced specific taxes alongside the ad valorem system. Specific taxes are highly effective in raising the minimum price of tobacco products, and this method is comparatively easier for tax collection.
At the pre-budget discussion, it was proposed to set a uniform price and tax rate for 20-stick filtered and non-filtered bidis at Tk 30 with a 50% supplementary duty.
For zarda and gul, it was proposed fixing retail prices at Tk 60 and Tk 30 per 10 grams respectively, with a 60% supplementary duty. It was also recommended to retain a 15% VAT and a 1% health development surcharge on all tobacco products.
In Bangladesh, 35.3% of adults use tobacco, and nearly 200,000 people die each year due to tobacco use. In the 2024-25 fiscal year, the health and environmental damages caused by tobacco use amounted to Tk 87,000 crore, which is double the revenue generated from this sector.
The participants representing ATMA included Murtuza Haider Liton, Convener of ATMA; and Co-conveners Nadira Kiran and Mizan Chowdhury; Kawser Rahman, Chief Reporter of Daily Janakantha; Md Monir Hossain Liton, Head of Online (Bangla) at Daily Times of Bangladesh; and Md Shafiqul Islam, Business In-charge at Bangla Tribune.