{"id":19379,"date":"2026-06-07T17:40:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T17:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/2026\/06\/07\/why-pakistan-needs-higher-tobacco-taxes-in-the-federal-budget-2026-27\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T17:43:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T17:43:05","slug":"why-pakistan-needs-higher-tobacco-taxes-in-the-federal-budget-2026-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/2026\/06\/07\/why-pakistan-needs-higher-tobacco-taxes-in-the-federal-budget-2026-27\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Pakistan Needs Higher Tobacco Taxes in the Federal Budget 2026\u201327"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Khalil Ahmad Dogar\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tobacco use remains one of the gravest public health challenges facing Pakistan today. Every year, tobacco related diseases claim more than 192,000 lives across the country, cutting short productive years, devastating families, and placing an enormous burden on an already strained healthcare system. As the federal government prepares the Budget 2026\u201327, there is a critical opportunity to take decisive action by strengthening tobacco taxation an evidence based policy that can save lives while also improving fiscal outcomes.
\nThe economic cost of tobacco use is staggering. In the fiscal year 2024\u201325, the estimated economic burden of smoking related diseases reached Rs 1,835 billion, encompassing healthcare expenditures, productivity losses, and premature mortality. In stark contrast, the total revenue collected from tobacco taxes during the same period was only around Rs 266 billion. This glaring imbalance highlights far greater tobacco consumption costs on society than the revenue it generates for the state. Allowing this gap to persist is neither economically rational nor socially responsible.
\nOne of the key reasons for this imbalance is the continued affordability of cigarettes in Pakistan. Despite rising inflation and increasing costs of living, Pakistan still has some of the lowest cigarette prices in the region. This is largely due to stagnant tax rates and declining real taxation. Federal Excise Duty (FED) rates on cigarettes have not been increased since February 2023. As a result, the tax share in retail cigarette prices has fallen, making cigarettes more affordable over time particularly low cost brands that are easily accessible to children, youth and low income populations.
\nThis growing affordability has serious public health consequences. Lower priced cigarettes disproportionately attract children, youth, and first time smokers, fueling early initiation and long term addiction. The alarming rise in tobacco use among children and youth should be a major concern for all relevant stakeholders. Global evidence consistently shows that higher tobacco prices are among the most effective tools to prevent children and youth from starting to smoke. Children and youth are especially price sensitive; when prices rise, initiation rates fall.
\nStrengthening tobacco taxation in the upcoming budget can help reverse these trends. A minimum increase in FED of Rs 35 per pack on economy brands and Rs 21 per pack on premium brands, combined with a gradual move toward a unified tax tier structure, would significantly reduce cigarette affordability. Such reforms would also simplify the tax system, reduce opportunities for tax avoidance, enhance overall revenue collection, and contribute to a decline in consumption and the associated health cost burden.
\nThe benefits of this approach are substantial. Evidence suggests that a meaningful FED increase could generate an additional Rs 51 billion in government revenue. More importantly, it could prevent an estimated 369,000 youth from initiating smoking and result in 271,000 fewer smokers overall. These are not just numbers; they represent lives saved, illnesses avoided, and families spared from emotional and financial hardship.
\nAt a time when recent increases in oil prices driven by regional instability have already placed immense pressure on households and the broader economy, it is neither prudent nor equitable to rely on raising prices of basic necessities to fill fiscal gaps. Instead, focusing on higher taxation of harmful products like tobacco offers a smarter alternative. Tobacco taxes target consumption that damages health, rather than burdening essential goods needed by every household.
\nIncreasing tobacco taxes is not merely a revenue generating measure; it is a vital investment in the health and future of our population. Stronger fiscal policies can play a transformative role in reducing preventable diseases and easing pressure on Pakistan\u2019s healthcare system. By taking bold action in the Federal Budget 2026\u201327 and aligning tobacco taxation with international best practices, Pakistan can move decisively toward a healthier, more productive, and more prosperous future.<\/p>\n

Dr. Khalil Ahmad Dogar<\/strong>
\n(The writer is a public health advocate and working as a Program Manager at Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Khalil Ahmad Dogar Tobacco use remains one of the gravest public health challenges facing Pakistan today. Every year, tobacco related diseases claim more than 192,000 lives across the country, cutting short productive years, devastating families, and placing an enormous burden on an already strained healthcare system. As the federal government prepares the Budget …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":19378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-education","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19379","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=19379"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19382,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19379\/revisions\/19382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}