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January 8th, 2017:

Price hike alert: GCC gears up for higher taxes on tobacco, soft drinks, luxury cars

New taxes will be added to the existing ones, which are 100 percent on tobacco and alcohol, and that the total taxation on such products will become 200 per cent. (Pixabay)

http://www.albawaba.com/business/cigarette-tobacco-gcc-tax-price-hike-soft-drinks-luxury-cars-923098

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is gearing up to double the taxation on certain items like cigarettes in the coming months.

The GCC will gradually implement a selective tax on 93 commodities starting the second quarter of this year and expand to cover all member countries by the beginning of 2018, said Abdulrahim Al Naqi, secretary-general of the Federation of Chambers of GCC.

According to the Saudi budget document published recently, “the GCC countries have already agreed to implement selective taxes on tobacco, and soft and energy drinks during the current fiscal year 2017″.

Al Naqi revealed that the list of items that will be taxed includes energy drinks, tobacco and luxury cars. He explained that each GCC country will determine the value of its own selective tax.

Khaleej Times has further learned that the tax will be added to the existing tax, which is 100 per cent on tobacco and alcohol, and that the total taxation on such products will become 200 per cent.

Last week, the Saudi Ministry of Finance clarified that the tax will be imposed only after the ratification of the uniform agreement on selective tax and the issuance of the domestic rules of procedure in line with the decisions adopted by the Supreme Council of GCC leaders. The proposed date for its implementation is April 2017, the statement added.

Al Naqi said there is a need to spread awareness among the region’s residents as well as the private sector before the implementation of the decision.

The UAE currently imposes 100 per cent tax on tobacco products. The GCC tax code includes 50 per cent taxes on soft drinks and 100 per cent taxes on power drinks, tobacco and its derivatives.

By Mustafa Al Zarooni

UK’s detailed TPD plans suggest light-touch approach

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Next chief executive should back annual tobacco tax hike in Hong Kong

Your editorial (“Preventive health care is an investment, not a burden [1]”, January 1) has hit the nail on the head regarding the importance of, and investment in, prevention versus cure in Hong Kong.

We all need the “ambulance and curative services” to rescue us when we are taken ill, but unless the whole of government – particularly the finance, trade and economic branches, as well as the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Ombudsman – grasps the political nettle of issues such as tobacco control, health will never improve, nor will the many thousands of annual deaths from tobacco be reduced.

Indeed, the entire Hong Kong government is under an international obligation to do so, being a party to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

One of the most important platforms of any incoming chief executive is their future preventive health plan for Hong Kong citizens.

Let us call upon each of the potential chief executive candidates to outline their health platforms. We should discard all those who see these platforms in terms of more hospital beds, which will never solve the problem of improving Hong Kong’s health. And the current health paradigm is such that improvements will only come about by addressing the vested interests of big business – the tobacco, alcohol, food, and even salt industry –including their often unrecognised front groups.

With tobacco control, we have known for decades what works, and how very cost-effective these measures are. Yet governments around the world hesitate to act.

Increasing tobacco tax heads the list of the best single measure to reduce smoking. It may be surprising to many that a fiscal measure is more important than health education in schools or banning sales to youth, for example, but it is the single best action governments can take to reduce consumption among the young.

Why can Hong Kong not follow Australia and New Zealand and commit to an annual tobacco tax increase of, say, 10 per cent per annum to the year 2025?

Any chief executive candidate who would endorse this would get my (hypothetical) vote.

It would give us an orderly and planned route to follow, and avoid the incredible waste of time and energy lobbying annually for tobacco tax increases. And it would have a massive effect in saving young and middle-aged lives, and in what is termed “frailty avoidance” in the elderly.

Dr Judith Mackay, Clear Water Bay

Sudan Scholars – ‘Tobacco Not Allowed in Islam’

Last week, the head of the Sudan Scholars Corporation issued a religious decree banning tobacco.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201701090127.html

Sheikh Mohamed Osman Saleh, head of the Sudanese Scholars Corporation told the state-owned Sudan News Agency (SUNA) last week that tobacco is forbidden in Islam.

The use of tobacco is no less dangerous and evil than the use of drugs, Saleh said.

He demanded the Sudanese security apparatus to combat the cultivation, sale, and use of tobacco in all parts of the country.

Asked about the donation of the North Darfur government of 10,000 tons of tobacco in support of the ruling National Congress Party, the sheikh said that the gift consisted of various in-kind materials. He accused the Sudanese media of highlighting the tobacco item, “for the purpose of creating sensation and chaos”.

In response, former North Darfur government adviser on economic affairs Rashid Ismail told reporters in Khartoum that “the fierce attack against tobacco trade in the country has led to the idea that it is something abnormal”.

According to Ismail, “the recent campaign against tobacco is probably intended to hit the Darfur economy. It will put the livelihoods of 900,000 Darfuris at stake”.