The Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) on Tuesday urged the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to impose specific taxes and hike prices of all tobacco products to discourage people from consuming them.
At a pre-budget meeting in the city, the delegates of ATMA also presented its budget proposals for 2021-22FY and handed over a copy to NBR officials, reports UNB.
They also requested to implement the proposals as a step towards building a tobacco-free Bangladesh by 2040.
ATMA's budget proposals are- imposing uniform tax rates in all tiers (65 per cent supplementary duty on final retail price) and introduce specific excise tax; in the low-tier, the retail price should be set at Tk 50 for a 10-stick pack with a Tk 32.5 as supplementary duty (SD).
For a 10-stick medium-tier cigarette pack, ATMA recommended the retail price at Tk 70 with Tk 45.5 SD. For a same size high-tier pack, the retail price should be set at Tk 110 with Tk 71.5 SD. In the premium-tier, it has suggested setting the retail price at Tk 140 for a 10-stick pack and Tk 91 as SD.
Other proposals include imposing uniform tax rates on filtered and non-filtered bidis (45 per cent supplementary duty on final retail price) and introduce specific excise tax.
It recommended setting the price for a 25-piece non-filtered bidi pack at Tk 25 with Tk 11.25 SD. For filtered bidis, it suggested the retail price at Tk 20 for a 20-stick pack and add Tk 9.0 as specific SD.