The government has constituted an expert group to develop a proposal for a comprehensive tax policy for all tobacco products.
The group will analyse the existing tax structure for all forms of tobacco -- smoking and smokeless – and develop a roadmap for the tobacco tax policy, an office memorandum, issued by the health ministry on October 12, said.
"The undersigned is directed to say that tax and price policies are widely recognised to be one of the most effective means of influencing the demand for and thus the consumption of tobacco products,” it said.
"To develop a proposal for comprehensive tax policy for all tobacco products with a public health perspective, it has been decided to constitute an expert group," the memorandum said.
The group will also recommend immediate steps to be taken for making India ‘MPOWER’ compliant with regards to 'R' component (highest level of achievement), it said.
It will suggest various options, models of tax rates and standards for consideration in the Budget 2022-23 and future budget sessions.
There are nine members of the expert group including Vikas Sheel, additional secretary and mission director in the ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW), Dr Pulkesh Kumar, deputy secretary in the MoHFW, and Dr Rijo M John, health economist.
There will be representatives from the NITI Aayog, tax research unit, GST Council, Central Board of Indirect Taxes, Customs, and WHO Country Office for India.
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(Published 19 October 2021, 17:48 IST)
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