Tobacco use remains one of the gravest public health challenges facing Pakistan today. Every year, tobacco-related diseases claim more than 192,000 lives across the country, cutting short productive years, devastating families, and placing an enormous burden on an already strained healthcare system. As the federal government prepares the Budget 2026–27, there is a critical opportunity to take decisive action by strengthening tobacco taxation, an evidence-based policy that can save lives while also improving fiscal outcomes.

The economic cost of tobacco use is staggering. In the fiscal year 2024–25, the estimated economic burden of smoking-related diseases reached Rs 1,835 billion, encompassing healthcare expenditures, productivity losses, and premature mortality. In stark contrast, the total revenue collected from tobacco taxes during the same period was only around Rs 266 billion. This glaring imbalance highlights far greater tobacco consumption costs on society than the revenue it generates for the state. Allowing this gap to persist is neither economically rational nor socially responsible.

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