If you are also fond of smoking tobacco then this news is for you. The tax on cigarettes has been increased by the Finance Minister.
Cigarette Price: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget on Wednesday. Many important announcements have been made by the Finance Minister in this budget. Along with this, the people who consume cigarettes have got a setback in this budget. Actually, the government has made a big attack on cigarettes and it has been announced to increase the tax on cigarettes. This will increase the prices of cigarettes and cigarettes will become expensive.
Tax on cigarettes
The Finance Minister has announced an increase of 16 percent in the tax on cigarettes in the budget. Following this announcement, experts have claimed that a substantial increase in tax and strong laws on all tobacco items will not only bring the best out of human capital by ensuring better health of citizens, but also help Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a $5 trillion economy by 2025. Will also help in achieving the vision.
Tax
In fact, the health care burden due to tobacco consumption in India is about 1.04 percent of the GDP, due to which many people are also facing poverty. According to experts, taxation on tobacco can be a very effective tool to generate revenue as the product is elastic in nature, high tax will not have any adverse effect on the revenue income of the government.
India is among 182 countries that have signed the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which recommends at least 75 percent tax on the retail price of all tobacco products . However, in India, there is 52.7 percent tax on cigarettes, 22 percent on ‘bidi’ and 63.8 percent on chewing tobacco. At the same time, after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an increase in tax on cigarettes in the budget for the financial year 2023-24, shares of other cigarette companies, including Godfrey Phillips India and ITC Limited, fell by up to five percent.
