To safeguard public health and save lives, the Youth Forum Against Tobacco has urged the government to raise taxes and prices on all tobacco products in the upcoming 2025–26 national budget.
On Tuesday morning, the group organized a human chain in front of the National Press Club under the banner “To Protect Public Health: Demand for Effective Taxation and Price Increases on Tobacco Products in the 2025–26 Budget.” The event drew active participation from youth forum members and university students.
The youth advocates emphasized that the easy availability and low prices of tobacco products are threatening the nation’s health, particularly among youth.
They called on the government to take bold action by increasing tobacco prices and strengthening tobacco control policies.
Nasrin Akter, project coordinator of Nari Maitree, said: “The current four-tier pricing structure for cigarettes makes taxation ineffective. The low and medium tiers are priced too closely, allowing easy switching between them.”
She added: “We propose merging these tiers and setting the retail price for 10-stick cigarettes at Tk90 in the 2025–26 budget to discourage smoking among low-income groups and youth.”
She also recommended setting high-tier cigarettes at Tk140 and premium-tier at Tk190, with a 67% supplementary duty, 15% VAT, and 1% health development surcharge.
Rahmuna Afrin, an active youth advocate from Nari Maitree and Ulab Alumni, highlighted the growing issue of tobacco use among school and college students due to its easy availability.
She emphasized that increasing tobacco prices would play a crucial role in preventing youth from falling into addiction.
Afrin called for stronger measures to protect young people from the harmful effects of tobacco and urged the government to implement price hikes as an effective solution to reduce tobacco consumption among the youth.
Ashrafia Jannat, convener of the Youth Forum Against Tobacco, said: “If these proposals are implemented, they could help prevent 1.7 million premature deaths, including 900,000 youth, and generate over Tk20,000 crore in extra revenue.”
The forum also proposed setting the price of 25-stick non-filtered bidis at Tk25, 20-stick filtered bidis at Tk20, jorda (10g) at Tk55, and gul (10g) at Tk30, with supplementary duties and taxes as outlined.
Md Azizul Islam Tuhin, senior research and communications officer at CES, Ulab, and an active youth advocate from Nari Maitree, said: “Cigarette companies often spread false claims about tax hikes harming revenue and jobs.”
He added: “In reality, the economic damage caused by cigarette use is far greater than the revenue earned from sales. Effective taxation will not decrease revenue; it will increase it.”
He also said: “With only 132,000 people employed in the tobacco sector, which represents just 0.2% of the workforce, while 200,000 new jobs are created annually in other sectors, the argument that tobacco taxes will harm employment is baseless.”
He further added: “I urge the government to prioritize public health, reduce tobacco-related harms, and strengthen national revenue through stronger cigarette taxation.”
The Youth Forum urges the government to act decisively and include effective tobacco tax measures in the upcoming budget to build a healthier, tobacco-free Bangladesh.
