Shelved Tobacco Taxation Formula must be implemented -NATA

Govt. would have received an additional 45 billion rupees in 2023 if TTF was implemented- Researcher

Text and picture by PRIYAN DE SILVA

Chairman of the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol, Prof. Samadhi Rajapaksa said that the Tobacco Taxation Formula (TTF) developed by NATA in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2021 and was shelved by the then Minister of Finance must be implemented.

Prof. Rajapaksa said that the price of Tobacco has to be increased according to a scientifically explainable transparent formula and not determined by law makers whenever they please. He reiterated that the TTF is the single most effective measure of Tobacco control.

The NATA Chairman said that businessmen who had close contacts with top lawmakers earned profits to the tune of millions of rupees each time cigarette prices were increased. He said a politically connected businessman who had prior knowledge of a three-rupee increase in the cigarette prices had obtained Rs. 384 million from a state bank and purchased cigarettes.

The NAT Chief said that the World Health Organisation had provided the financial resources for the preparation of the TTF and it had taken one year for NATA together with experts from the University of Cape Town and WHO to do so. He added that when developing the TTF, the present price of a cigarette, the cigarette tax percentage, the proposed price for the next years, percentage of inflation and GDP had been taken into consideration.

When the TTF was presented to the Cabinet of ministers it got the nod from all except the Minister of Finance, who shelved it.A research conducted by Verite Research estimates that the government would have received an added revenue of 45 billion rupees in 2023 if the TTF had been implemented.