Funds from cigarette taxes needed

JAKARTA: House of Representatives' Commission VII on population and welfare affairs has asked the government to increase the contribution to the state budget raised from taxes on cigarettes to help finance the development budget of the Ministry of Health next year.

Speaking at a hearing with the ministry here over the weekend, Mariani Akib Baramuli, a member of the commission, said that cigarette taxes were a major source of finance in the ministry's budget last year, contributing around Rp 22.3 trillion.

According to the National Agency for Drug and Food Control (BPOM), 6.5 million people suffer from smoking-related diseases.

The data said that smoking causes 90 percent of cases of mouth cancer, throat cancer, bronchitis, and lung problems. It showed that 75 percent of chronic pulmonary disease and 40 percent of cases of cerebra vascular disease were caused by smoking. --JP