PANAJI
In keeping with this year’s theme of National Youth Day 2022 - ‘Saksham Yuva, Sashakth Yuva’ and to save the younger generation from tobacco addiction trap, members of Civil Society, tobacco control experts along with youth leaders have urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increase the taxes on all tobacco products on the event of ‘National Youth Day’ on January 12.
The appeal submitted by the National Organisation For Tobacco Eradication (NOTE-India) appeals for implementing hike in excise duty on cigarettes, bidis and smokeless tobacco in the upcoming budget of 2022-23.
Increasing excise duty on all tobacco products can be a very effective policy measure to curb the sales and also can raise revenue to the central government, claim the experts. This approach will be a winning proposition for generating revenue and reducing tobacco use and decline in tobacco use will positively reduce related diseases like oral cancer etc as well as Covid-related co-morbidities.
Some of the major recommendations submitted to the PM and the finance minister include increasing the tax burden, making tobacco products expensive, out of reach and unaffordable for the vulnerable (especially the youth) and reducing the economic burden it imposes. A suggestion is to minimise the discrepancies in taxation across different tobacco products and simplifying the tobacco tax structure by reducing the number of tax tiers and implementing stronger packing rules.
A recommendation is to utilise the revenue generated by tax hike to shift tobacco farmers to other crops, to provide an alternate livelihood to bidi rollers, tobacco vendors and others who might be affected by the tax hike.
“India is in the midst of the Covid-19 third wave and it should be noted that available research indicates that tobacco use increases the risk for severe Covid-19 infection, complications, and death. Increasing taxes on tobacco products will make these killer products less affordable and fetch substantial revenue for the government, while also motivating millions of tobacco users to quit and preventing youngsters from initiating tobacco use,” stated Dr Shekhar Salkar, president, NOTE, Goa.
