Discussion Meeting with Journalists on ‘Specific Taxation on Tobacco Products to Protect Public Health’

Discussion Meeting with Journalists on

Specific Taxation on Tobacco Products to Protect Public Health

A discussion meeting was held with journalists on ‘Specific Taxation on Tobacco Products to Protect Public Health’ on Saturday, 27 August 2022 at 11 AM in the conference room of the BNTTP secretariat office. The meeting was jointly organized by the University of Dhaka’s Bureau of Economic Research (BER) and the Bangladesh Network for Tobacco Tax Policy (BNTTP).

BER’s focal person Professor Dr. Rumana Huque delivered the keynote presentation at the seminar on the specific taxation of tobacco products. She mentioned the features and advantages of specific taxation and how it can be implemented in Bangladesh too. Apart from her, Sushant Sinha, a tobacco control researcher and special correspondent of Ekattor Television gave a presentation on ‘Tobacco company’s tactics and intervention in revenue evasion’. Dr. Nasiruddin Ahmed, former chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) was also present at the meeting as a resource person.

After the two presentations, a question-and-answer session was held where the journalists were given the floor to ask anything regarding the topics of discussion. The resource persons gave answers to their various queries. This led to a lively discussion among the participants. The journalists were requested to support the cause of tobacco control and report on the various issues in this sector as well as the unethical practices of the tobacco companies and work to create awareness among the general public. The meeting was attended by 11 journalists from various media outlets.