National Youth Day: Increase taxes on tobacco products: Youth associations pleads to PM

Hyderabad: On the occasion of National Youth Day, several youth associations across the country have urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to increase taxes on all tobacco products in the upcoming budget of 2023-24.

In their appeals to the Prime Minister and Finance Minister, they urged to increase excise duty on all tobacco products. According to the youth groups, increasing excise on all tobacco products can be a very effective policy measure to address the immediate need to raise revenue by the central government. It would be a winning proposition for generating revenue and reducing tobacco use and related diseases.

Some of the major suggestions made to the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister by around 2,000 youth groups include significantly increasing the existing tax burden so that tobacco products become unaffordable by the vulnerable (especially the youths) and reduce the economic burden it imposes, minimizing 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. They also recommend that the revenue generated by tax hike be used to shift tobacco farmers to other crops, provide an alternate livelihood to bidi rollers, tobacco vendors and others who might be affected by the tax hike. Raising taxes on tobacco products is the single most effective way to reduce tobacco use and save lives In India. All tobacco products in India are under taxed. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), raising the price of tobacco products through tax increases is the most effective policy to reduce tobacco use.