The Budget - Whisky Tax Increase

[John]

As i am sure you all heard yesterday that the Chancellor Alistair Darling announced a steep rise in duty on Whisky. 55p increase on a 70cl bottle of 40% ABV and this is to be followed by further 2% above inflation increases over the next four years. This increase will obviously be proportionally more for the cask strength whisky.

Today Alistair Darling has been defending his Budget against complaints that the Scotch whisky industry would be hard hit by this rise. Darling said increased taxes on alcohol - including 4p on a pint of beer, 3p on a litre of cider and 14p on a bottle of wine - had helped him put more money into getting children out of poverty and boosting winter fuel payments for pensioners.

Darling rejected claims that this increase in duty would be damaging to the industry now. He said: "Most of its production goes to export - it is an extremely successful exporter - and what you pay in duty depends on what the country you are exporting into chooses to charge. That's not going to be affected by what we are doing."

SNP Finance Minister John Swinney said whisky was already at a disadvantage compared with other forms of alcohol and called for taxes to be levied according to the alcohol content of drinks. He also said: "The signal he has given to other countries is they can exercise punitive taxation on whisky which makes it an obstacle to gaining entry to other markets."

John

[Alastair]

Hi John

I think this increase will certainly harm Scotland's economy in a bid to prop up UK finances. The demand for Scotch whisky in the UK is certain to fall due to this increase, and this is bound to cause uncertainty over the future of workers in Scotland who rely on the whisky industry for their livelihoods. Coincidental that this first increase in 10 years by the Labour party comes at a time when they are not the ruling party in Scotland. Perhaps i have a bad mind but it is not much of a stretch of the imagination to think this is a political move to try and make the ruling Scottish National Party look bad by raising tax knowing it will cause job losses in Scotland.

I am aware taxes have to be raised from somewhere but should they not be raised fairly. By this i mean why does he hit spirits harder than other drinks. For example at current rates the duty equalised on a litre of pure alcohol is

Whisky = £21.35
Beer = £14.96
Still Cider @ 7.5% = £3.85
Still Wine @ 15% = £12.95

This is simply an unfair tax when compared to the tax on the likes of cider. I am aware Alistair Darling stated that this increase has nothing to do with the binge drinking problem in the UK today. Perhaps Darling and his government should be tackling this problem by raising taxes on the beer and alcho pops which are a problem to todays society and at the same time taxing all alcohol equally instead of targeting the whisky industry and using it as a cash cow.

Alastair

[Mark]

I agree with what you are saying Alastair, taxes have to be raised to run the country but they should be raised fairly. It is wrong that spirits are taxed so much more than wine, cider and beer. From the lets sort out the UK binge drinking problem point of view whisky and other spirits are not the problem, i would think it is the beer and alco pops that are the problem so why is there not a huge hike in the taxes on them, this would help with the binge drinking and raise taxes, all good for the UK.

Mark

[islayonspey]

[John]

[Andy M]

I dont think we will notice the increase much at the moment it is in 4 years time we will be wondering when did whisky suddenly get so expensive. The 2% above inflation increase over the next four years we will be when we notice a big difference.

Andy M

[Hugh]

[eric]

With the rising prices for grain and the growing demand for good whisky from India and China i expect the prices will get higher in the not so far future too.Exciselevel is not the only worry.