In fairly dreary news for those of you keen to wrangle a froth dog or ten in February, Australia’s already fairly prohibitive excise on booze is set to rise once again this coming Monday, as part of the Federal Government’s perpetual efforts to raise the tax on beer twice yearly.
The excise rates on alcohol are indexed twice a year, under current Government guidelines. The next indexing is scheduled to occur on Monday, meaning a tax rise of around 1.2% is in store for drinkers across the country.
In real terms, this equates to a tax increase of around $0.27 per carton of 5% strength beer. A negligible amount on paper, but when you consider the fact that, at present, these increases are occurring twice a year, every year, it adds up at a decent clip.
Currently, a 24-can or stubby slab of 5% beer attracts $22.82 in alcohol excise. From Monday, that rises to $23.09. On a carton of 5% beer with a retail price of $53.99, that represents 42.77% of the total price. If excise increases are passed onto the consumer – and it’s a fair bet that they will be – an increase in the shelf price of beer is likely.
Australians are currently paying somewhere in the vicinity of $2.23 in taxes per litre of alcohol sold. That gives us the fourth highest tax rate on beer in the world. By comparison, Germany pays around 28 cents per litre, while the United States is even lower at 12 cents. In real terms, Australians pay somewhere around 700% more tax on beer than people in the US do.
These excises are a massive money spinner for the Federal Government coffers, too. Estimates put the amount the Government raked in from the booze tax at around $3.6 billion last financial year.
The excise is scheduled to be adjusted again in 2020 come August 1st.
