Lisbon, Oct. 15, 2024 (Lusa) - The Portuguese Society of Pneumology on Wednesday labelled the government's decision not to increase taxes on alcohol and tobacco in the context of the 2025 State Budget as "political irresponsibility" and "serious and unacceptable incompetence".
Speaking to Lusa, Sofia Ravara, coordinator of the Portuguese Society of Pneumology's Working Committee on Smoking, said that the government's decision not to increase taxes on these products, "arguing that an increase in consumption is expected", is "serious and unacceptable incompetence".
The report on the SB2025 proposal, quoted by Expresso, estimates that "IT [Tobacco Tax] revenue will increase by €63.7 million (+4%) and that IABA [Tax on Alcoholic Beverages and Non-Alcoholic Beverages with Added Sugar] revenue will increase by €16.4 million (+4.7%), as a result of the expected growth in private consumption".
The pulmonologist warned that "tobacco and alcohol are legal but lethal consumer products", causing multiple cancers, chronic respiratory disease, cardiovascular diseases, strokes and diabetes, and chronic liver disease, among others.
"These diseases have the highest burden of disease, disability and premature mortality in Portugal and the world. Not only do they cause chronic diseases, but they also worsen the prognosis and complications of these diseases, leading to avoidable hospitalisations due to exacerbation of the disease, overloading the health service and threatening its sustainability, escalating direct and indirect health costs (absenteeism from work and reduced productivity)," she said.
For the pulmonologist, "the government cannot neglect its duty to protect the health of the Portuguese population, to manage public money efficiently, ensuring that the health service is sustainable while favouring the profits of the tobacco and alcohol industries".
"In the end, only these industries come out winners, and there is no doubt that it is the activity of these industries that leads to consumption," he said, criticising the fact that their activity “devastates the economy of families and countries”, as shown by the WHO and the World Bank.
Although Portugal has never done the maths, "Brazil, one of the largest tobacco producers, has done so and the economic balance is profoundly negative for the country, weighing up the revenue from tobacco production and sales and the social and health costs", emphasised the professor from the University of Beira Interior.
On the other hand, she pointed out, "these industries interfere in political decision-making and hinder the implementation of effective preventive public policies".
Among these policies, she pointed to increased taxation, which indirectly leads to prices rising above inflation, as the most effective single measure for reducing consumption, especially among young people and socially disadvantaged population groups, and raising more revenue for the state.
For the expert, tax revenue allocation "can be used and should be used" to support the national programme for the prevention and control of smoking and alcoholism, particularly in terms of funding non-governmental organisations working in this area.
Sofia Ravara said that civil society must pressure the government to change this situation and hold it accountable, as well as other political decision-makers "who, instead of taking partisan questions, should be protecting the health of the population, and also the economy of families, the country and sustainable development".
She recalled that Portugal has political commitments set out in the Portuguese Constitution, ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Smoking Prevention, and adheres to the WHO global plan for the control of chronic diseases and the Sustainable Development Goals.
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