"Impact of tobacco taxation policy changes on consumption and public revenues in Bosnia&Herzegovina"

Venue: hotel Courtyard by Marriott, Banja Luka

Round table titled “Impact of tobacco taxation policy changes on consumption and public revenues in Bosnia and Herzegovina” was held on 14.11.2019. in Banja Luka. The aim of the roundtable was to present the results of the research conducted in 2019 for Bosnia and Herzegovina within research project “Accelerating Progress on Effective Tobacco Tax Policies in Low and Middle Income Countries” facilitating discussion on potential systemic changes in tobacco taxation.

The roundtable was attended by a total of 20 participants from 9 different institutions. Beside the representatives of the research team of the University of Banja Luka (Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer Centre - ETTC and Faculty of Economics) as project partners from B&H, the round table was attended by representatives of the Institute of Economic Sciences from Belgrade as the main project coordinator, representatives of the Indirect Taxation Authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Srpska, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Srpska, Fiscal Council of the Republic of Srpska, Public Health Institute of the Republic of Srpska and Health Insurance Fund of the Republic of Srpska.

The round table was opened by Jovan Zubović from the Institute of Economic Sciences (IES) from Belgrade, who presented the main project objectives, activities performed in the region and it’s goals for 2019 and 2020. Mihajlo Đukić from IES gave an overview of key challenges in tax policies refrom in the region, followed by Anđela Pepić from University of Banja Luka ETTC with introduction into the main problems and consequences of tobacco consumption for society as a whole and public revenues. Research results were presented by Dragan Gligorić, principal investigator in B&H and Ljubiša Mićić, researcher. Gligorić summarized the research results focusing on the prevalence elasticity and elasticity per different household income groups, explaining the value of research results for further considerations for tobacco taxation policy. Mićić presented results of simulations of increase in specific excise by 10%, 25% and 50% and its impact on consumption and public revenues (also per different household income groups). This was the basis for providing the key policy recommendations for measures that could lead to a more optimal tobacco taxation policy the benefit of both society (in terms of decrease of smoking and tobacco consumption, but also in terms of public revenues and expenditure). Presentations were followed by discussion that was very constructive, providing the input from key stakeholders on what could be the focus of future research, and also helping the project team to enhance policy relevance of the performed research.