Chancellor George Osborne is preparing to top up his alcohol ‘super tax’ in March through the government’s Alcohol Duty Escalator (ADE). The Treasury’s own forecasts show that this will cost alcohol shoppers an extra £250m every year, which is approximately £28,000 an hour, or £477 every minute.
This tax bill will come on top of what are already some of the highest duty and tax rates in Europe. The Call Time On Duty campaign wants the ADE to be removed to help British businesses, and to ease the country’s cost of living crisis.
Independent research from Ernst & Young has found that removing the escalator would actually boost government finances by £230m in 2014 and create 6,000 new jobs.
Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “British drinkers already pay more duty than those in France, Spain, Germany, Ireland and Poland combined. It would be bonkers in that context to turn the screw even tighter on responsible drinkers. Tax escalators are unfair and always hit the poorest hardest. The Alcohol Duty Escalator should be scrapped.”
Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, said: “To miss the opportunity to improve the public finances, support British businesses and instead inflict an additional £500-a-minute tax bill on consumers would be a huge mistake. Scrapping the alcohol super tax should be an easy decision for the chancellor.”
Facts and figures from Ernst and Young.
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