Health bodies demand 28 per cent tax under GST on tobacco products

Srinagar, May 17: As the 14th meet of GST Council is meeting here tomorrow, various health bodies have demanded fixation of 28 per cent taxes on all tobacco products, including bidis in the country.
The health bodies have demanded for fixation of higher taxes on all tobacco products, a spokesman for the Jammu and Kashmir Voluntary Health and Development Association (VH&DA) said here today, adding that the Council’s decision will have a long lasting impact on the lives of India’s 275 million tobacco users.
He said all major countries in the world subject tobacco products to high rates of consumption taxes with the objective of discouraging its use among the poor and youth and to garner additional revenue.
Currently 35 per cent of all adults in India use some form of tobacco leading to at least one million deaths from tobacco-related diseases each year.
There is an overarching consensus that goods that are harmful to society such as tobacco be categorized as “sin” and should be taxed at the highest rate on account of their serious adverse impact on public health, he said.