Dhaka, April 29 -- Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) has proposed a major overhaul of tobacco taxation, including price restructuring and specific duties, at a pre-budget discussion with the National Board of Revenue (NBR), aiming to boost revenue and reduce tobacco-related deaths.

It said merging the low and medium tiers of cigarettes into a single tier and setting the retail price at Tk 100 per 10 sticks, Tk 150 for the high tier, and Tk 200 or above for premium cigarettes, along with introducing a specific tax of Tk 4 per 10-stick pack on top of the existing 67% supplementary duty will generate approximately Tk 44,000 crore in additional revenue compared to the current fiscal year.

At the same time, it will prevent around 400,000 prematu...