Maximizing tobacco excise to attain Universal Health Coverage, a discourse network analysis

Abstraksi

Increased excise taxation of tobacco products has long been established as an effective mechanism for reducing consumption, as well as for generating extra government revenue. It is also recognized as an effective source of financing for key development objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals, including funding for Universal Health Coverage. Indonesia still lags however, on enforcing stronger tobacco control measures. A vital step in understanding if there is scope for tobacco excise to be utilized as an alternative source of development funding is to understand the attitudes of key government officials towards an increased tobacco excise. An online search was conducted to gather relevant news articles published from October 2014 to January 2018, which contained statements of key officials regarding the tobacco excise rate. Discourse Network Analyzer (DNA) software was utilized to categorize the statements into eleven pre-determined concepts regarding agreement or disagreement with an increase. In this paper we discuss key actors’ views on raising tobacco tax in relation to sustainably financing development. 258 statements regarding an increase in tobacco tax were identified from 36 government officials. Most agreed that raising tobacco tax is beneficial for state revenue. Support to utilize tobacco tax revenue to attain Universal Health Coverage was also prominently mentioned. However, the effect of excise increase towards tobacco farmers, industry workers, and illicit trade became the controversial issues in the debate, which obscures the tobacco tax’s potential to further support sustainable development.