Corne Van Walbeek of SALDRU’s Economics of Tobacco Control Project (ETCP) talked about the significance of tobacco taxes to the Dutch Alliance for a Smoke Free Society at a meeting in Den Haag.
In his presentation to the alliance, he highlighted three key issues including tax structure, cigarette affordability and substitution between manufactured cigarettes and roll-your-own cigarettes.
Van Walbeek reports that interactions over the course of his visit abroad were very engaged. “There was considerable interest in understanding the exact steps that the Netherlands needed to take to make progress in reducing affordability while mitigating any negative impacts on populations with low socioeconomic status,” he said.
Similarly, Alfred Mukong and Ernest Tingum also from the ETCP, delivered a presentation to the Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), a network comprising some 31 organizations spread over 16 African countries that advocate for the strengthening of tax policies and pro-poor tax policies to support domestic resource mobilization.