Speakers at a policy seminar in Islamabad urged immediate reforms to tobacco taxation, calling for a single-tier system, youth-focused measures and stronger enforcement ahead of the Federal Budget 2026\u201327. Organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), the dialogue stressed that improved tobacco taxation can deliver both public health gains and substantial domestic revenue.<\/p>\n
Syed Ali Wasif Naqvi<\/strong>, Senior Research Associate at SDPI, highlighted analytical findings showing that a one-percentage-point fall in smoking prevalence could recover roughly Rs294 billion in economic losses and generate over Rs103 billion in additional tax revenue. He warned that current tax levels lag behind regional and global benchmarks and attributed part of the stagnation to tobacco industry influence.<\/p>\n Dr Sajid Amin Javed<\/strong>, SDPI Deputy Executive Director, described tobacco taxation as a win-win policy that supports revenue generation while reducing disease burden. He recommended forming a working group of think tanks to drive public dialogue, coordinate awareness campaigns and engage schools and universities on tobacco harms. He also proposed higher taxation on commonly consumed brands and earmarking proceeds for the health sector.<\/p>\n Waseem Iftikhar Janjua<\/strong>, SDPI Senior Advisor, argued that the existing two-tier tax structure is inequitable and encourages brand switching rather than quitting. He urged a progressive increase in taxes on lower-tier brands, narrowing the gap with premium products and transitioning toward a single-tier approach. Janjua advised automatic annual excise increases that exceed inflation and GDP growth and a clear three-to-five-year reform roadmap.<\/p>\n Speakers pointed to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control benchmark, noting Pakistan\u2019s tax share on cigarette retail price remains below the recommended 70 per cent. They also called for limits on industry interference in policymaking and for international financial institutions to support tougher tobacco taxation policies.<\/p>\n Dr Ashar Malik<\/strong> from Aga Khan University warned that tobacco products are not ordinary consumer goods and stressed the need to expand taxation and regulation to cover smokeless and alternative tobacco products that currently escape adequate levies. He also urged improved early diagnosis systems for tobacco-related illnesses, including lung and oral cancers.<\/p>\n Dr Irfan Chatha<\/strong>, SDPI Research Fellow, cautioned that taxation alone is insufficient without coordinated enforcement and measures to curb illicit trade. With annual consumption still near 80 billion cigarette sticks, he recommended aligning fiscal policy with strengthened monitoring, intergovernmental coordination and public health priorities to reduce use and prevent initiation.<\/p>\n Panelists emphasised youth-focused steps such as mapping youth consumption patterns, imposing higher taxes on products favored by younger consumers, and integrating tobacco awareness into youth development programmes. They urged policymakers to reframe tobacco taxation as a core public health intervention and to clearly balance priorities between preventing new smokers and reducing consumption among current users.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Experts call for stronger tobacco taxation, single-tier reform and youth-targeted measures in Pakistan’s 2026-27 budget to protect health and raise revenue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":18594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}