Raising Tobacco Taxes in FY 2026-2027: Protecting Health and Financing Government Reform

This Fact Sheet was developed by tobacco control partners from Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Economics for Health, Vital Strategies, and World Health Organization. The fact sheet assesses the current tobacco tax structure in Bangladesh and the impact of an alternative tobacco tax proposal. Specifically, the researchers propose merging the low- and medium tiers, with a maximum retail price (MRP) of BDT 100, setting the MRP for the premium tier to BDT 200, and imposing a uniform specific tax of BDT 4 per pack for all tiers. This scenario would encourage nearly 0.5 million adults to quit smoking and prevent more than 372,000 youths from initiating tobacco use. In turn, this would save over 371,700 lives in the long term, including 185,408 current adults and 185,335 youths by preventing premature tobacco-related deaths. This tax reform would also generate more than BDT 85,000 crore in tobacco tax revenue, BDT 44,000 crore more than the previous fiscal year. The fact sheet concludes with recommendations for policy makers to implement the proposed tax reform to reap the public health and fiscal benefits.