Abstract
There are more than 23.9 million people of eighteen years of age or more than this who are smoking cigarettes in Pakistan. Although Pakistan commits with National and International Institutions to cut its prevalence by 30%. But this ratio is growing very rapidly due to multiple reasons. Tobacco users are growing daily by expanding the economy of tobacco in cultivation and cigarette manufacturing. In 2014-15 the government of Pakistan was receving102.209 billion from the tobacco industry. In 2015- 16 the amount jumped to 111.886 but suddenly declined to 74.107 in 2016- 17. After some policy measures there was again a rise in revenue collection to 88.540 in 2017-18 and Now it 135 billion in 2020-21. The sudden decline from 111 billion to 74 billion makes the policymakers, and legislators attentive towards this major shift. A special Senate committee on tobacco taxation was also formulated to evaluate the real issue behind this major decline in revenue. The third tier controversy, the illicit cigarettes, lobbying by tobacco firms, flawed policies, weak system of federal Board of Revenue (FBR) were some of the main areas identified by the researchers, legislators and same were reflected in the special committee on tobacco taxation. The weak areas were identified and policy recommendations are suggested. Capacity building of FBR, strong legislation, coordination with Azad Jammu Kashmir Government, implementation on the advice of the Ministry of the Health Regulation, and World Health Organization (WHO) are the suggested policy measures in this study.