Alcohol Prices Set to Rise
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June 10th, 2009
The proposal includes increasing the excise tax; raising the drinking age; limiting the hours that off-licenses and bars can open; regulating alcohol advertising and lowering the blood alcohol limit from 80mg per 100ml to 50mg.
Current excise taxes on alcohol stand at around .86 for a bottle of wine with 12% alcohol; 33c for a 330ml stubbie; and .79 for a bottle of 35% vodka.
The government raises 5 million on alcohol excess tax per year – compared to the .3 billion social cost of alcohol. A national alcohol assessment carried out by the police this month showed that alcohol is a factor in around a third of all violent offences, and in nearly half of all homicides in the last decade, either the suspect or the victim was influenced by alcohol. To cover this social cost, excise tax would have to increase fivefold. However, an increase in excise tax would not necessarily be passed on to consumers as supermarkets and off-licenses have the buying power necessary to absorb the cost. Law Commission president Sir Geoffrey Palmer said that it should be the drinkers, not the tax payer, who should pick up the bill, and suggested consumers switch to light beer and early nights.
The Hospitality Association has criticised the suggestions as “window-dressing”: a simplistic reaction to a binge-drinking culture. Association chief executive, Bruce Robertson, said that attitudes, not prices need to be changed and that increased prices will prevent people drinking in a supervised environment which would potential increase alcohol’s social harm. The proposal is awaiting public feedback.