Group to raise awareness of spirits duty
Greater awareness is needed so drinkers realise just how much tax is put on spirits, according to the Gin and Vodka Association.
Price reductions and increased competition mean that although the tax on spirits has been frozen since 1998, in real terms the amount on each bottle has risen.
Now 72 per cent of the price of a bottle of gin and 74 per cent of the price of a bottle of vodka is tax. On the cheapest brands this reaches 86 per cent - but few drinkers realise the amount of tax per bottle.
"People know what the tax is at the petrol pump but they don't realise that when they buy a drink round the corner, that the cost is mostly tax," said director general Edwin Atkinson.
Mr Atkinson was speaking ahead of the Budget, which is due to take place today (April 17).
The trade has been actively lobbying the government for a reduction in duty for many years. It believes lowering tax would help stop smuggling and reduce the amount of bootlegged booze entering Britain.
The Gin and Vodka Association has asked the government for a four per cent reduction in excise tax.
The government has proposed introducing strip stamps on spirit bottles, to show duty has been paid and reduce illegal imports. But the idea has been criticised by the Gin and Vodka Association. Mr Atkinson said the stamps would harm small spirit manufacturers and would not cut smuggling or fraud because they are easily faked.
Chancellor Gordon Brown is expected to introduce a sliding scale of beer duty for small brewers in the Budget, in order to help them compete with larger companies.
The trade is also waiting to see if the report by European Commissioner Fritz Bolkestein, which recommended harmonisation of duty across Europe, has had any influence on government thinking.
When the report was published at the end of last year, the trade welcomed its assertion that harmonising duty was the only way to stamp out smuggling.
The Confederation of British Industry has urged Mr Brown to cut business taxes by £2bn in the Budget.
Director general Digby Jones said: "The increasing tax burden is eating into the ability of firms to sustain more and better-paid jobs."
Related stories:
Trade groups slam Government spirit plan (25 February 2002)
