Drink up, the taxman’s coming. Again.
DRINKERS, drivers and smokers of Australia — hold onto your wallets.
From today, booze and petrol are more expensive under twice-yearly excise indexation tied to inflation, The Australian reports. Cigarette prices will increase next month.
Motorists will pay 0.3c more per litre, with the excise on petrol and diesel rising from 39.2c per litre to 39.5c per litre. That will add 18c to the cost of filling a 60-litre tank, with the government now taking $23.70.
Meanwhile, drinkers can expect to pay 13c more for 24 cans of full-strength beer. The tax on a sixpack of beer rises by 3c, while 24 cans of ready-to-drink spirits will increase by 29c. The tax on a 700ml bottle of spirits will increase by 17c.
The automatic indexation was introduced by the Hawke government in the 1980s but indexation on fuel was frozen by the Howard government at 38.1c per litre in 2001 to offset the introduction of the GST.
The Abbott government reintroduced fuel excise indexation last year in a move that was initially opposed by Labor, but agreed to after the government committed to spending $1.1 billion on regional roads.
Australia’s notoriously complex method of taxing alcohol, which includes three completely separate systems (plus GST), has been labelled “incoherent” and long faced calls for sweeping reform.
“Taken together, current alcohol taxes reflect contradictory policies,” the 2009 Henry Tax Review said. “They encourage people to drink cheap wine over expensive wine, wine from small rather than large producers, beer in pubs rather than at home, brandy rather than spirits, and to purchase alcohol at the airport.”
In his tax review, Ken Henry recommended a common tax based on alcohol volume that does not discriminate between beverage types, a move he estimated could add an extra $1.8 billion in revenue a year.
THE TAXMAN’S SHARE
• 1 litre of fuel = 39.5c, up 0.3c
• 1 litre of LPG = 12.9c, up 0.1c
• 24 cans of full-strength beer = $16.15, up 13c
• 24 cans of light-strength beer = $5.73, up 5c
• 24 cans of RTD spirits = $36.47, up 29c
• Six-pack of full-strength beer = $4.04, up 3c
• Six-pack of light-strength beer = $1.43, up 1c
• Single can of RTD spirits = $1.52, up 1c
• 700ml bottle of spirits = $21.28, up 17c
• 30ml shot of spirits = 91c, up 1c
Source: The Australian
What makes each beer style unique and what exactly distinguishes ales from lagers; the two major beer 'families'?
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