Where’s the Strength in the Government’s Alcohol Tax Cuts?

A helping hand from the Government?

Rishi Sunak hailed his “pubs guarantee” this week, which saw lower taxation on pints, prosecco and some other alcoholic beverages – which may see some draught alcoholic beverages up to 11p cheaper than in supermarkets.

"Not only will today’s changes mean that that the price of your pint in the pub is protected, but it will also benefit thousands of businesses across the country," said Sunak.

“We have taken advantage of Brexit to simplify the duty system, to reduce the price of a pint, and to back British pubs.”

The Government claims that this measure – which taxes drinks by strength, will put pubs on a level playing field with supermarkets. There are now six categorisations for drinks rather than the previous 15 possible options.

Products below 3.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) in strength will be subject to lower tax. All drinks above 8.5% ABV will pay the same rate regardless of product type.

Retail consultant Craig Morgan was less than completely impressed, however. He posted on Linkedin of the measures, “It’s a start and could cover the energy price uplifts in a pub selling over 2500 pints a week.. However, with food inflation and every essential service like insurances, internet charges, food and general supplies passing RIDICULOUS levels of inflation increases on to all customers there is a long way to go to level up.”

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2 August 2023

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