Health academics are calling on the government to raise tobacco taxes. The call came ahead of World No Tobacco Day on May 31 Read the following story from the Bangkok Post to learn more about this health campaign.
Prakit Wathisathokkit, secretary-general of the Action on smoking and Health Foundation Thailand, recently told a seminar that about 60 percent of Thai cigarette consumers who quit smoking did so because of increased tobacco taxes. "If Thailand doesn't apply measures to raise tobacco taxes, it won't be able to further reduce the number of smokers, Prakit said
RISING RATES The most recent boost to tobacco tax rates made by the government was in 2012. The aim then was to control tobacco consumption and increase revenue. A specific tax based on the quantity or weight of tobacco was also introduced the same year.
CUTTING CONSUMPTION Health academics believe that increasing the tobacco tax resulted in cigarette sale volumes remaining at 2.14 billion packs in 1992 and 2.17 billion packs in 2013, despite heavy promotion by tobacco companies. Academics also said that the tax increases had brought in extra government income of 15.3 billion baht in 1992, rising to 67.8 billion baht in 2013. "Increasing taxes reduces tobacco consumption, especially among teenagers," World Health Organisation representative to Thailand Yonas Tegegn said. "It's an efficient way to prevent people from smoking, and enables governments to raise funds to help those who lose jobs in the tobacco industry.
DANGEROUS HABIT Siriwan Pitayarangsarit, director of Mahidol University's Tobacco Management Centre, said 44 Control Research and Knowledge percent of smoking-related diseases are caused by consumption of shredded tobacco. All types of tobacco tax must be boosted every couple of years to prevent smokers turning from one kind of tobacco to another," Siriwan said