Speaking at the eighth Tobacco Farmers’ Awards ceremony, Mr. Udayan Lall said top priority should be accorded to providing tax stability on cigarettes...

MYSORE: The Tobacco Institute of India director on Thursday urged the government to formulate a pragmatic and equitable taxation policy to reduce the disparity in the rates between cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Speaking at the eighth TII Tobacco Farmers’ Awards ceremony, Mr. Udayan Lall said top priority should be accorded to providing tax stability on cigarettes while widening the net to cover those tobacco products that were either lightly taxed or escaped taxation. He said this strategy had also been recommended by the Union health ministry.

Mr. Lall said the present taxation policy was highly discriminatory with 85% of the tax burden falling on the cigarettes sector which accounted for only 15% of domestic tobacco consumption. This year had been particularly hard with the excise duty on cigarettes being increased by around 6%.