TBT DESK: National Board of Revenue chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan on Tuesday said they are thinking of introducing a QR Code system band-roll for the tobacco sector to prevent tax evasion.
He was speaking at a pre-budget meeting with Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) at the conference room of the Revenue Building. He said that as the tax is high on tobacco items huge amounts of illicit cigarettes enter the country depriving the NBR of getting due revenue. The NBR chief said that they are conducting a drive against these cigarettes across the country.
He said that some bidi companies used to use counterfeit band-rolls to avoid paying taxes in the national exchequer. "Even they bring those band-rolls from abroad after printing there," he said.
The NBR chairman put emphasis on establishing a cashless society to stop tax evasion.
The ATMA in their proposal said that the existing four price tier (low, medium, high, and premium) system in cigarettes has rendered the tobacco price and tax measures less effective.
Particularly, the very narrow price difference between low and medium tier cigarettes allows consumers to choose brands belonging to any of these two tiers.
To safeguard public health, this glaring loophole can be plugged by merging low and medium price tiers and reducing the number of price tiers to three.
The ATMA said that prices of tobacco products in Bangladesh are considerably low.
ATMA delegation member City Editor of The Daily Janakantha Kawser Rahman placed the proposals. The other members were Deputy Editor of the Business Standard Sazzadur Rahman, ATMA Convener Mortuza Haider Liton and Co-convener Mizan Chowdhury.
The proposals from ATMA for the FY 2025-26 are as follows: The low and medium tier should be merged into one and prices for 10 sticks of the merged tier should be set at Tk 90. The proposal, if realised, will encourage the low-income smokers to quit and discourage the youth from lighting up.
In addition, ATMA urged policymakers to keep the retail price of high-tier cigarettes at existing Rk 140 for 10 sticks and to raise the prices for 10 sticks of premium cigarettes to Tk 190. The supplementary duty (SD) on all cigarette tiers should be the existing 67 %.
As per the proposal presented by ATMA, for non-filtered bidi, the retail price should be Rk 25 for 25 sticks. In the case of filtered bidi, the retail price for 20 sticks should be set at Tk 20. Both prices should be followed by a 45 % SD.
Regarding smokeless tobacco, the retail price for 10 grams of jarda and gul should be Tk 55 and Tk 30, followed by 60 % SD.
The budget proposals also suggest retaining 15 % VAT on the retail prices of tobacco products and continuing the existing 1 % health development surcharge (HDS).
In support of its demand, ATMA informed that budget proposals placed by anti-tobacco organisations, if realised, can help the government raise a staggering Tk 20,000 crore in additional revenue, which will come in handy in reaching revenue targets and improve public health.
Implementation of such proposals, in the long run, will also help prevent the premature deaths of 1.7 million Bangladeshis, including nearly 900,000 youths, ATMA said.