Union Health Minister wants Tobacco products to be unaffordable

New Delhi, 6 July, 2014

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has urged Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to hike tabacco products prices in this year’s budget. He has also asked states and Union Territories to impose VAT of at least 50 per cent on all tobacco products to “make them less affordable”.

In his letter to Chief Ministers, Vardhan has used the example of Rajasthan where VAT (value-added tax) on tobacco products stands at 60 per cent.

In a letter written to Jaitley, Vardhan had proposed “a large but feasible tax hike in the 2014 budget on cigarettes of Rs 3.5 per stick. The tax would be applied to all lengths to prevent the industry (tobacco) from shifting production and marketing to lower length cigarettes, as has been the past practice.”