DHAKA, Dec 10, 2024 (BSS) – PROGGA, a research and advocacy organization, and Anti Tobacco Media Alliance today  urged the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to formulate a strong law and introduce a robust taxation system to reduce the use of tobacco.
 
Leaders of the two organizations said the NBR must play a vital role in strengthening tobacco control law and adopting robust tobacco tax measures to both improve public health and increase revenue earnings.

A delegation of PROGGA and Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) paid a call on NBR Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan at latter’s office here in city.

During the meeting, the NBR Chairman said, “I want to thank PROGGA-ATMA in particular because almost all of my stakeholders usually demand tax reduction whereas these two organizations are raising demands for tax hike. All of your reform proposals are reasonable. We will take these into consideration while formulating the national budget. I will also do the needful to facilitate the amendment to the tobacco control law.”

PROGGA also informed that increasing prices of tobacco products through tax hikes is a globally recognized method that discourages tobacco use.
The high prevalence of tobacco use claims nearly 161,000 lives each year in Bangladesh.

The delegation attending the meeting included Professor Dr Sohel Reza Chowdhury, Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Research, National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute; Mortuza Haider Liton, ATMA convener; Nadira Kiron and Mizan Chowdhury, both co-convener of ATMA; ABM Zubair, Executive Director, PROGGA, and Md Hasan Shahriar, Head of Programs, PROGGA.