{"id":88068,"date":"2026-05-24T17:07:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T11:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kalopati.com\/?p=88068"},"modified":"2026-05-24T17:10:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T11:25:05","slug":"lawmaker-karki-proposes-50-per-cent-tax-on-tobacco-products-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.kalopati.com\/news\/88068","title":{"rendered":"Lawmaker Karki proposes 50 per cent tax on tobacco products"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"article-body\" lang=\"ne\">\n<p>Kathmandu. Rastriya Swatantra Party lawmaker Toshima Karki demanded tax on tobacco products to be increased to at least 50 per cent. <\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a programme on the public health tax, lawmaker Karki said the policy was mandatory to improve the public health and make health insurance sustainable. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have recommended increasing tax on tobacco products by 50 per cent by 2035 BS,&#8221; she shared. <\/p>\n<p>The main purpose of the tax is not only to collect revenue but also to reduce the consumption of tobacco products. \u2019<\/p>\n<p>She argued that the current tax hike of 3 to 5 percent would not change the behavior of consumers. <\/p>\n<p>He said that only adequate tax increases can reduce consumption and reduce the burden of disease. <\/p>\n<p>Lawmaker Karki presented the data that Nepal has imposed the smallest tax on tobacco products (around 41 per cent) among the South Asian countries. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Tobacco products not only cause cancer but also serious blood vessel diseases (such as Berger&#8217;s disease). As a result, the productivity of the citizens decreases, the disability increases, and the financial burden on the state. \u2019<\/p>\n<p>The tax hike will help reduce consumption, especially for the youth and low-income groups, she said, adding that such a move is also in the interest of the poor. <\/p>\n<p>Karki proposed that revenue collected from tax levied on tobacco products, alcohol and harmful beverages should be invested in the health insurance sector. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The revenue collected now is being used elsewhere by the state,&#8221; she said. If it is applied to the health sector, especially to the restructuring of health insurance, then the people will gladly accept it. \u2019<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Children, pregnant women and people with chronic diseases are at high risk from smoke inhalation,&#8221; she said, underlining the need for the state to pay special attention to control the social cost of passive smoking. <\/p>\n<p>She said that she has been continuously holding discussions with Finance Secretary and Finance Minister regarding restructuring of health insurance in the context of final preparation of budget statement. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kathmandu. Rastriya Swatantra Party lawmaker Toshima Karki demanded tax on tobacco products to be increased to at least 50 per cent. Speaking at a programme on the public health tax, lawmaker Karki said the policy was mandatory to improve the public health and make health insurance sustainable. &#8220;We have recommended increasing tax on tobacco products<a href=\"https:\/\/english.kalopati.com\/news\/88068\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Lawmaker Karki proposes 50 per cent tax on tobacco products&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":75116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1391],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-en"],"acf":[],"publishedDateNp":"\u0967\u0966 \u091c\u0947\u0937\u094d\u0920 \u0968\u0966\u096e\u0969, \u0906\u0908\u0924\u0935\u093e\u0930 \u0967\u096d:\u0966\u096d","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88068"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88069,"href":"https:\/\/kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88068\/revisions\/88069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/media\/75116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}