Hoping to start a friendly discussion.
- tax on a bottle of spirits has gone up by around £1 on average (depends on strength)
- tax on wine has gone up around 50p (depends on strength)
- tax on beer and cider from shops is up but not from the pub
For a £16 bottle of spirits around £12 of it is tax. The spirit only actually costs £4.
Of note the majority of the tax (i.e. the duty, not the VAT) is a flat rate so as a percentage cheaper spirits will go up more.
E.g.
A £10 bottle of cheap vodka will be ~£11 so a 10% increase
A £30 bottle of good single malt will be ~£31 so a 3% increase
Disproportionately increasing the cost of living for poor people again?
That said, there are 28 units of alcohol in a £10 bottle of vodka and there are 28 units of alcohol in a £1,000 bottle of prestige cognac. Both bottles do the same amount of damage to the body. So surely it’s fair to make everyone pay the same?
—
My opinion, just my opinion…as someone who used to have alcohol problems…I support putting the tax up by inflation especially if it raises more money for the government and I think people who have harmful habits should pay more as they will likely cost more…I now buy a nice bottle of whisky or cognac every few months instead of 2-3 cheap bottles a week so the tax increase doesn’t personally affect me as much.
—
Interested to know your thoughts. 👍
