Bangladesh still has ample opportunity to do better in the Cigarette Tax Scorecard, an initiative to assess the performance of cigarette tax policies of 160 countries, anti-tobacco advocacy organisation PROGGA said today.
Published May 20, 2021, 4:30 PM
The Philippines received the highest score among its peers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in terms of improvement in cigarette tax policy, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.
In a statement, the DOF said on Thursday, May 20, that the Philippines was among the countries “with the greatest improvement in cigarette tax policy” between 2012 and 2018 based on the latest Tobacconomics Cigarette Tax Scorecard.
A report submitted to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III showed that the Philippines got an overall score of 3.75 out of 5 in the Tobacconomics Scorecard, the highest among the ASEAN.
Finance Assistant Secretary Ma. Teresa Habitan said that Tobacconomics particularly took note of the Philippines “simplification of previously complicated tiered cigarette excise tax structures, accompanied by large tax increases.”
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Cigarette tax structures in BD far below than standard practice: Study The New Nation
Reza Mahmud :
A study conducted by a US based research initiative revealed that Bangladesh is far below from standard practice of cigarette tax structures over protection of health and economics.
Tobacconomics, a US-based research initiative, published the study findings in its first edition of the International Cigarette Tax Scorecard, assessing the performance of cigarette tax policies in over 170 countries including Bangladesh.
Tobacconomics is based at the University of Illinois under Chicago s Institute for Health Research and Policy and it conducts economic research to inform and shape fiscal policies for health globally. According to the study, Bangladesh got an overall score of 2.38 out of 5 possible points, which is slightly higher than the global average (2.07), but there is abundant room to improve when compared to the top performing countries (4.63).