CIGARETTES VS BEEDI,s

In these times of recession when government is reducing taxes on everything, one product which does not deserve this benefit is cigarettes. let face it, CIGARETTES cause CANCER. did you know that every year more than 106 BILLION cigarettes are consumed by Indians compared to 1 TRILLION beedi's. And did u also know that there is no tax on beedi as compared to heavy and essential tax on cigarettes.Imagine if we tax beedi too ..........what could happen? let us enlist the effect first. We could collect an extra revenue worth Rs. 15,000 crore, at the same time this might have an influence on the poor and might make them quit.
so why haven't any of the finance minister realised any of this. well reason is simple enough beedi factories employ millions of poor. the poor like to buy cheap products. but lets face it it is cheap killer besides there are no warning on beedi packets.tax in crease can here be used as measure to preserve the health of the citizens.
A recent study by Emil Sunley, an IMF consultant, estimates that beedis account for 77% of all tobacco consumption but only 5% of excise duty His data refer mostly to 2007-08, but the dimensions of the problem have not changed materially since. Sunley says that the tax per thousand is Rs 14 for hand-made beedis and Rs 26 for machine-made ones. For cigarettes, the tax per thousand varies from Rs 168 for micro non-filter cigarettes to Rs 819 for the standard 70 mm filter cigarette and a whopping Rs 2,163 for filter cigarettes longer than 85 mm.
no wonder's about these the small things ......i still dont understand why it hasn't come to any one's notice but it would take an awakening to get this problem and many more like these to disappear.
Let us hope this reaches FM's eyes
JOHN F. KENNEDY
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.