Call for raising tobacco taxation to save lives

About 19.7% of total adults use tobacco in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD:

Experts have called for raising taxes on tobacco in Pakistan to save lives. Dr Zaman, the founding chairman of the Department of Sociology at Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) and head of the Zaman Research Centre, underlined the need for imposing more taxes to save lives.

“Taxing tobacco saves lives by reducing consumption and channelling resources towards essential public health initiatives,” he said, adding affordability of the cigarettes was the major contributor to high consumption and ultimately diseases and fatalists in the country.

Dr Zaman further said the increasing prices of cigarettes were an internationally proven strategy to curtail their consumption. He endorsed the alignment of tobacco taxation with the guidelines outlined by the World Health Organisation (WHO), emphasizing the imperative to develop a long-term taxation policy grounded in global best practices and Article 6 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

To substantiate his argument of making cigarettes unaffordable to curb consumption, he referred to a recent research report by Capital Calling that said that an increase in the prices of cigarettes has resulted in a decrease in consumption.

The Islamabad-based think tank Capital Calling reported that “one in every ninety-four smokers was forced to quit smoking after a significant raise in taxes.” The interviews with the smokers and data collected from these cities show that they are now saving money by quitting smoking to fulfil other needs like food, education and health of their children, and paying utilities. More than 31 million Pakistani adults (15+) or about 19.7% of the total adults use tobacco, which is one of the highest in the world,” the report further said.

Malik Imran, the Country Head of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, highlighted the staggering economic toll of tobacco consumption, citing an annual loss of Rs615 billion. Referring to a World Bank report, he said that there was ample room to increase tax on tobacco products. “The government can generate additional Rs65 billion from the industry by increasing the tax up to 26%,” he said.

The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) had earlier pointed out deficiencies in the tax collection framework as well as the need for increasing taxes on tobacco products, particularly cigarettes. The institute has published a detailed report, based on government data, which states that the country lost Rs567 in revenue during the last seven years.

The report titled "Tobacco Taxation in Pakistan: Unraveling the revenue loss of Rs567b to the exchequer," has unearthed the staggering financial toll inflicted by the tobacco industry on the national exchequer.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2024.