Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) has urged the government to overhaul tobacco taxes in the FY27 budget, proposing a higher minimum cigarette price and a uniform excise duty to curb smoking and raise revenue.
The recommendations were presented at a pre-budget press conference at the National Press Club in Dhaka on Sunday. The proposals were jointly developed by Economics for Health, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Institute of Health Economics (IHE) at the University of Dhaka, PPRC said in a press release.
The proposal calls for merging the existing low and medium cigarette price tiers and setting a unified minimum retail price of Tk100 for a 10-stick pack. It also recommends a specific excise tax of Tk4 per 10-stick pack across all cigarette price tiers.
University of Dhaka Institute of Health Economics Professor and Director Shafiun N Shimul said effective implementation of the proposed measures could encourage about 5,00,000 adults to quit smoking and deter more than 3,72,000 young people from starting tobacco use.
Over the long term, the measures could help avert 1,85,408 premature deaths among adults and 1,85,335 among young people, while cutting overall tobacco use prevalence by about 0.5 percentage points, he said.
He said the proposal could generate more than Tk85,000 crore in revenue, which would mean an additional Tk44,000 crore compared with the previous fiscal year.
Department of Clinical Oncology Chairman Syed Md Akram Hussain said the economic burden from tobacco-induced non-communicable diseases far exceeded the revenue earned from tobacco taxes, as tobacco harms not only the lungs but multiple vital organs.
He also said tobacco taxes had not been adjusted in line with income growth and inflation in recent years.
PPRC Executive Chairman Hossain Zillur Rahman said taxation and legislation remained the main tools for tobacco control. He said the idea that higher tobacco prices would cut revenue was not backed by solid research and that higher prices helped discourage adolescents from starting smoking.
He also expressed concern over the removal of the ban on e-cigarettes in the recently passed tobacco control ordinance in parliament, saying the move was made without a clear explanation and sent a dangerous signal, especially to young people.
He said public awareness should also be strengthened through school health curricula so that young people can better understand the risks of tobacco use.
Speakers at the event said stronger tobacco taxation was essential both for raising revenue and for reducing tobacco consumption at a time when Bangladesh is struggling to meet revenue targets.
