Increase taxes on tobacco products to curb demand: WHO

Even as India made progress in increasing taxes on cigarettes between 2012-14, it has little effect as the “modest hikes” were compensated by relatively higher income growth, a WHO report on Tuesday said, urging nations across the globe to raise taxes on tobacco products to reduce its consumption.

“Cigarettes have become more affordable in China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. In these countries, price and taxes have either remained unchanged, or relatively modest increases were more than compensated by relatively higher income growth,” said the WHO report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2015 which was released on Tuesday in Manila.

It said that "too few" governments levy appropriate levels of tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products and miss out on a proven, low-cost measure to curb demand for tobacco and save lives.

It also blamed India's tiered taxation system for cigarettes, in creating loopholes against reducing the consumption and suggested it to be replaced with a simpler tax structure.

"India levies tiered specific excise taxes on cigarettes, with seven brackets of basic excise duty based on cigarette length and whether or not there is a filter. But differential taxes lead to loopholes," it said.

A top official of the WHO South-East Asia region after the launch of the report noted that India's comprehensive tobacco control program has expanded to cover the entire nation now and advocated the urgent need for improved tax measures, stronger law enforcement and enhanced cessation efforts for nations of this region.

"The WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic released today shows that between 2012 and 2014, Bangladesh, India and Maldives have made progress in increasing taxes on cigarettes...

"...India's comprehensive tobacco control program has expanded to cover the entire nation," said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director WHO South-East Asia in a statement after the release of the report.

She said that improved tax measures, stronger law enforcement and enhanced cessation efforts are urgently needed in the South-East Asia Region to protect people against the ill-effects of tobacco which continues to be a "major" public health issue.

She said that tobacco kills approximately 6 million people annually, 20 per cent of them live in the region which accounts for 25 per cent of the world's smokers and almost 90 per cent of smokeless tobacco users.

Recent estimates show that there are about 246 million smokers and 290 million smokeless tobacco users in the Region, she said.