What is 'sin tax'?
A tax on items considered undesirable or harmful, such as alcohol or tobacco.
LAHORE (Web Desk) – Federal Minister for National Health Service Aamir Mehmood Kiani warned yesterday while addressing a seminar that the government would impose a tax named sin tax on the cigarettes and other tobacco products.
After this announcement, many smokers expressed their views on social media regarding sin tax.
In this regard, Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda has also posted a message on the micro blogging website Twitter to criticize the term used for this tax.
I’m a chain cigarette smoker myself and I appreciate all the measures taken by the government to discourage smoking and I understand it’s injurious to health but this term “Gunnah Tax” is inappropriate. If this is gunnah then what would we name and term the actual gunnahs.
— Faisal Vawda (@FaisalVawdaPTI) December 4, 2018
According to oxford dictionary the sin tax is an economic term which means "a tax on items considered undesirable or harmful, such as alcohol or tobacco."
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, however, the first known use of sin tax can be traced to 1957.
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Sin Tax in other countries
"Tax on tobacco and sugary beverages is being charged in some 45 countries," said Dr Hafeez, "the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom are among those countries."
Similarly, India has also imposed sin tax on Gukta and Paan and the money collected from the this tax id being spent on the health care sector.
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According to Arabian Business, last year, Saudi Arabia had implemented 100 percent sin tax on tobacco products and energy drinks, and 50 percent tax on soft drinks.
Similarly, The UAE had also imposed sin tax by, doubling the price of tobacco and energy drinks, and increasing the price of soft drinks by 50 percent.
Is sin tax effective?
An analysis of sugary-drink purchases, carried out by academics in Mexico and the United States, has found that the 5.5% drop in the first year after the tax was introduced was followed by a 9.7% decline in the second year, averaging 7.6% over the two-year period., the Guardian reported last year.
Mexico has high rates of obesity – more than 70% of the population is overweight or obese – and sugar consumption. More than 70% of the added sugar in the diet comes from sugar-sweetened drinks. Coca-Cola is particularly popular and holds a place in the national culture, while former president Vicente Fox was the regional head of the company.
University of California-San Francisco examined data on sugar availability and diabetes rates from 175 countries over the past decade. After accounting for obesity and a large array of other factors, the researchers found that increased sugar in a population’s food supply was linked to higher diabetes rates, independent of obesity rates.
