The World No-Tobacco Day was observed in the country as elsewhere in the world on Monday (May 31) amid various programmes. The anti-tobacco platforms arranged programmes on Monday and the previous days.
On the occasion, the Bureau of Economic Research (BER) of Dhaka University, Bangladesh Anti-Tobacco Alliance (BATA) and Bangladesh Network for Tobacco Tax Policy (BNTTP) jointly arranged a webinar on ‘Effect of Tax and Price for Quitting Tobacco Use’ on Sunday (May 30).
Dr Md Nasiruddin, former chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), chaired the function, while Dr Rumana Haque, a professor of Department of Economics of Dhaka University and BNTTP’s convener, presented the keynote paper. Prof Dr Atiur Rahman, former governor of Bangladesh Bank, Prof Dr Habibe Millat, MP from Sirajganj-2, Barrister Shameem Haider Patwary, MP from Gaibandha-1, Saifuddin Ahmed, coordinator of BATA, Dr Mohd. Shahadt Hossain Mahmud, director general of Health Economics Unit, Dr Syed Mahfuzul Haque, national professional officer of WHO, and Syed Mahbul Alam Tahin, technical adviser of The Union, spoke on the occasion, among others.
In her keynote, Dr Rumana Haque said that the government should take step for imposing specific taxation on tobacco products. The conventional price tiered system has to be abolished and specific taxation on tobacco products has to be levied in order to increase revenue income and control the tobacco use in Bangladesh, she said.
Dr Rumana further said that many tobacco companies apply tactics to avert tax on due to complex and faulty system of tax collection from tobacco products.
‘We want to make tobacco-free Bangladesh by 2040. Specific taxation will be an effective tool to reduce the usage of tobacco in the country,’ she said.