STATE TIMES NEWS
SRINAGAR: Demanding a greater tax rate on tobacco products under the new GST regime, various organization on Tuesday cautioned the government against accepting any proposal which seeks to reduce the tax rates below 40 per cent. Importantly, the GST council meeting that concluded on 20th October, last month proposed a much lower ’26 per cent GST rate’ which would have significant impact on the revenue as well as the health of the people.
“There is certainly an overarching consensus that goods that are harmful to society categorized as “sin” such as tobacco be taxed at the highest rate under GST as recommended in the Chief Economic Advisor report which seeks a 40 per cent GST sin rate on all tobacco products including cigarettes, bidis and chewing tobacco,” Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) said in a statement issued here.
“A much lower GST rate would make all tobacco products even more affordable to youth and other vulnerable populations, leading to the impact of the tobacco epidemic becoming more severe driving up health care costs and resulting in productivity losses. This will certainly lead to an increased number of fatalities per year, which is not a good news for any country. I firmly believe and urge that the government should tax the tobacco products at very high rate to ensure it discourages mass consumption,” said Dr. Pankaj Chaturvedi, Oncologist, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai.
