Post Budget Roundtable on Taxing Tobacco in Budget 2008-09
What Really Happened?
On 4 September, 2008 Unnayan Shamannay organized a post-budget roundtable on ‘Taxing Tobacco in budget 2008-09: What Really happened?’ at CIRDAP Auditorium. Muhammad Abdul Mazid, Chairman of National Board of Revenue (NBR) was present as the Chief Guest. A presentation made at the roundtable showed that the price rise due to taxing tobacco in the budget 2008-09 was insignificant. Reacting to this finding, the NBR Chair indicated that if required SRO will be used to increase taxes on tobacco products even before the next budget. Mohammad Alam, Member (VAT) of NBR and Quazi Faruque, General Secretary of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) were presented as Special Guests in the roundtable. Dr. S. M. Zulfiqar Ali, Research Fellow of BIDS made the main presentation regarding the tax measures taken in the national budget 2008-09 and its implications in the market. Renowned economist and Chairman of Unnayan Shamannay Dr. Atiur Rahman presided over the roundtable where representatives from different civil society organizations, anti tobacco organizations, government officials, NGOs and media personnel were presented.
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