A workshop was jointly organized by the Health Economics Unit (HEU), Bureau of Economic Research (BER), and Bangladesh Network for Tobacco Tax Policy (BNTTP) on imposing specific taxation on tobacco products to protect public health. The workshop was held at 10 AM on 20th July 2022 in the Conference Room of the Health Economics unit.
Former chairman of the National Revenue Board (NBR), Professor Dr. Nasiruddin Ahmed gave the keynote presentation of the workshop on the features and advantages of specific taxation. He also mentioned the countries that successfully implemented this taxation system and suggested that their examples should be followed to introduce this system in Bangladesh too. The workshop was chaired by the Director General of the Health Economics Unit. Md. Shahadat Hossain Mahmud and moderated by Director of Research of Health Economics Unit, Dr. Md. Nurul Amin.
Apart from them, the coordinator (Additional Secretary) of the National Tobacco Control Cell, Hossain Ali Khondakar, joint secretary of Bangladesh Cancer Society, Professor Dr. Golam Mohiuddin Faruque, technical advisor of The Union, Advocate Syed Mahbubul Alam Tahin, and many others were present at the occasion as special guests.
The guest discussants along with the participants expressed their opinion about tax measures, especially implementing specific taxation for tobacco control in Bangladesh. They suggested that robust and thorough research should be conducted to generate empirical evidence on the positive outcomes of specific taxation as well as to ensure the NBR that adopting this system would not harm the revenue stream coming from the tobacco industry. It was also suggested that communication with the NBR should be strengthened, and inclusive initiatives should be taken to achieve the desired outcomes.
The workshop was attended by 30 participants which included, officials of the health economics unit, the national tobacco control cell, and various organizations working on tobacco control in Bangladesh as well as journalists from print and electronic media.