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Health groups slam govt for not raising cigarette tax in 2025
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A stock illustration of a cigarette pack. (Shutterstock/Andrew Angelov)
H
ealth organizations say the government’s decision not to increase the cigarette excise tax for next year represents a major step backward in reducing tobacco consumption in the country.
The decision showed the government’s willingness to make policies that benefited tobacco industry bigwigs at the expense of public health, said Hasbullah Thabrany, a public health professor at the University of Indonesia who heads the National Committee for Tobacco Control (Komnas PT).
He noted that a previous 10 percent increase in cigarette tax had failed to decrease smoking rates among minors and low-income families.
“Yet, despite that situation, the government decided not to raise the excise for next year,” Hasbullah said in a discussion on Thursday.
On Jan. 1 of this year, the tax on electronic cigarettes went up 10 percent. In late 2022, the government announced an increase in taxes on machine-made clove cigarettes (SKM) and white cigarettes (SPM) of between 11 and 12 percent, as well as a 5 percent rise for hand-rolled cigarettes (SKT).
Yet the tax hikes failed to curb smoking, with the World Health Organization (WHO) finding Indonesia among the 10 countries with the highest smoking rates.
Read also: More Indonesians smoking, bucking global trend
