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AsiaBangladesh: tobacco tax system needs urgent reform Bangladesh is globally the ninth largest cigarette market. Adolescent (13–15 year olds) smoking prevalence is 9.2%, and over 35% of those aged over 15 are currently smoking. Tobacco use claims 161 000 lives a year and incapacitates hundreds of thousands of people. A 2019 study conducted by the American Cancer Society put the financial burden of tobacco use in Financial Year (FY) 2017–18 at 305.6 billion Bangladeshi Taka (BDT) much higher than the revenue generated from tobacco which was BDT 228.1 billion. Overall, tobacco use has emerged as a growing threat to the public health, economy, and environment of the country. For this reason, the country has pledged to become a tobacco-free country by 2040. Yet Bangladesh’s convoluted and flawed tobacco tax structure is greatly at odds with this vision. Its tax system is
Source: Tobacco Control - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: TC News analysis, Open access Source Type: research