Budget Expectations 2023: Finance Minister urged to raise taxes on tobacco products-- Here's WHY

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New Delhi: Keeping the forthcoming Union Budget 2023-24 in mind, non-government organizations working for the welfare of women and children across the country and self-help groups (SHGs) are making an appeal to the Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman to raise taxes on all tobacco products to protect the health of women and girl children.

They have cited several studies conducted both in the country and outside which show that tobacco usage by women in any manner is harmful to reproductive health and affects pregnancy outcomes. The risk of cervical cancer sharply increases with tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke from cigarettes.

According to the 139th Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare, on “Cancer Care Plan & Management: Prevention, Diagnosis, Research & Affordability of Cancer Treatment”, cervical cancer, is the second most frequent cancer among women between 15 and 44 years of age with a high death ratio in India.

As per India’s National Cancer Registry Program and the last round of the National Health and Family Welfare Survey, female smoking rates were higher in those areas with higher rates of cervical cancer, compared to registries with lower rates of cervical cancer. It also noted that tobacco use is one of cancer's most prominent risk factors.

Advocate Varsha Deshpande, Convenor, Women and Child Rights Organization (WCRO) Coalition has made an appeal to the Union Finance Minister to consider making tobacco products unaffordable by raising taxes on all tobacco products in the upcoming annual budget 2023-24.

“Increase in taxes will make the tobacco products costlier and thus less affordable for young girls and women, thereby saving them from a lifetime of suffering and misery caused by tobacco-related diseases and cancers,” she appeals.  

Since the GST was introduced in 2017 there has been no hike in taxes on tobacco products, making them more affordable compared to inflation and the rise in prices of other products. “We are hopeful that in the forthcoming Union Budget, the Government will consider our request,” says Munni Begum of Nari Chetna Foundation which works for the health, education, and livelihood of women beedi workers and their children in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh.

She writes, “The revenue earned from increased taxes can be utilised for the welfare of women, children and especially the women beedi workers.”