The price prescription: taxation and policy on tobacco
JANUARY 18, 2018 India is the second largest consumer and producer of tobacco-based products — categorised as sin goods or demerit goods — and it has become imperative for policymakers to devise measures to effectively curb their use. Over the years, governments have resorted to a mix of policies which range from monitoring the pricing and taxation regime of these products to the focus gradually shifting towards awareness campaigns highlighting the deadly effects of tobacco use, regulatory control laws pertaining to packaging and labelling as well as shaming and prohibiting its use in public places. Health comes first The Supreme Court recently stayed a Karnataka High Court order setting aside the 2014 amendment rules to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 that prescribed tobacco packages having pictorial warnings covering 85% of the package sp...