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Reluctant Hero

Whisky Duty Increase

Looks like Chancellor Darling is going to increase the tax on whisky in the forthcoming budget.  It will be the first rise in ten years.

The SNP are up in arms about it.  Labour are saying that it is double standards as the SNP support an increase in the price of alcohol as a way to deal with Scotland's "problem" with drink.

That maybe so, but I would be very surprised if whisky drinkers contributed drastically to the "problem".

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman....-fury-over-whisky-hike.3858787.jp
mairead

The problem of the underage drinking in this country is not the more expensive spirits, but the cheap plonk that youngsters can so easily obtain. I mean it can be bought for three pounds or less.
The government constantly fail to raise the tax on wine though. (probably because most of them drink it.)
Increase on whisky= more tax for the government who already take the bulk of the price of a bottle of whisky.
Aventinian

The government was talking about increasing the tax on wine (I've not seen the budget yet, so I don't know what actually happened) in order to prevent the 'silent binging' of the middle classes, for the good of their health and all that of course.

As for binging - well, if you keep taxing other spirits while the price of whisky remains static, people will simply move to the non-taxed and cheaper alternative.  

Taxes get higher. Unfortunate fact of life. The whisky industry can count itself lucky that this is the first they've had in ten years. Plenty of other industries are nowhere near so lucky.
Red Justice

Rubbish Av what is necessary if price increases are a tool to help deal with binge drinking then target specific drinks rather than price increases that set back the whisky industry.  Never heard of anyone binge drinking on whisky.

Av said: Taxes get higher. Unfortunate fact of life

No not always necessary unless we take the high tax UK economy but that is the British for you, rob a poorer peter to pay a richer paul!

To put in a nutshell about whisky industry I could not put it better than the Dundee East SNP MP:

Stewart Hosie, MP for Dundee East, added: "Despite Alistair Darling being the second consecutive Scottish chancellor, we have another budget that is bad news for Scotland.

"The chancellor's extraordinary hike in spirits duty is a backward step for the Scotch whisky industry, a swingeing blow at a time when whisky is already taxed more heavily than any other alcoholic drink.

"Instead of action to tackle the cider-fuelled binge drinking that is the blight of so many communities, Labour are penalising an industry that is the backbone of many communities."
Aventinian

Red Justice wrote:
Rubbish Av what is necessary if price increases are a tool to help deal with binge drinking then target specific drinks rather than price increases that set back the whisky industry.  Never heard of anyone binge drinking on whisky.


Really? I certainly have. Indeed, it's quite a feature of every New Year I've ever spent in Scotland.

But, to draw your attention to the main point regarding that in my post: if whisky is given the privilege of lower taxation, it will become cheaper than other spirits and people - particularly the young - will buy it and neck it just the same as they would with anything else. Indeed, you can get a bottle of whisky for £7 at Tesco these days - not to increase the duty on it would've been nothing short of idiocy if this 'penalise drinkers' policy is the way the government has decided to go.

Quote:
No not always necessary unless we take the high tax UK economy but that is the British for you, rob a poorer peter to pay a richer paul!


I remind you that you are 'the British' too, to pretend there is some sort of British consensus on taxation is nonsense.

I dislike high taxation, but equally I dislike privilege being given to certain sectors of industry simply because they feel entitled to it.

Anyway, a communist supporting low taxes... it's funny what Nationalism can do to people's brains, eh?

Quote:
To put in a nutshell about whisky industry I could not put it better than the Dundee East SNP MP:

Stewart Hosie, MP for Dundee East, added: "Despite Alistair Darling being the second consecutive Scottish chancellor, we have another budget that is bad news for Scotland.

"The chancellor's extraordinary hike in spirits duty is a backward step for the Scotch whisky industry, a swingeing blow at a time when whisky is already taxed more heavily than any other alcoholic drink.


Ah, I see. Capitalism - all nasty and horrible, unless it's Scottish capitalism having its special treatment taken away?

Quote:
"Instead of action to tackle the cider-fuelled binge drinking that is the blight of so many communities, Labour are penalising an industry that is the backbone of many communities."


Cider? It's not the early 90s anymore!
Red Justice

I feel the need to make things clear here. Firstly in any drive to tackle binge drinking discrimination against spirits and indeed whisky is poorly thought out. The stealth taxes brought in by Mr Darling are more about filling the hole in public finances and the considerable increase in duty on spirits will do nothing to solve the problem of binge drinking.  Binge drinking is certainly found in the teenage to 24 age group and the source is cheap drinks and mixing drinks. Supermarkets might not just sell a cheap brand of whisky but moreover all drinks can be bought at reduced prices in supermarkets like Tesco. Whisky is already taxed more heavily than any other alchoholic drink. And what drinks consumed in the binge drinking culture in our communities? These could include cider or designer drinks but little evidence that whisky would be top in such a list or drinks misused by most particularly younger people.

The Whisky industry has been dealt a blow by a Darling traitor to Scotland. The message going out to export markets is wrong. Whisky has 95% sales which are in the export market and other countries are being encouraged by Darling's foolish budget taxation decision to apply heavy duty on whisky exports.

The alchoholic volume of whisky is strong (and over taxed compared to other drinks) the arguments from Av are clearly weak lol
Cymro

I don't have a problem with paying taxes, I follow the "two things you can't avoid in life is tax and death" (what a cheary thought eh?) so don't let it worry me.


As a rule

Seems that recently I'm being taxed more and more and more by the government so they have enough money to pay for their lastest folly.

Excess drinking in the UK is a problem, but taxing it to f**k isn't going to change that. It's liberalising our entire attitudes to alcohol which will change things. Merely stopping underage people from going to a pub will just send them to the park with a crate.
Aventinian

Red Justice wrote:
I feel the need to make things clear here. Firstly in any drive to tackle binge drinking discrimination against spirits and indeed whisky is poorly thought out. The stealth taxes brought in by Mr Darling are more about filling the hole in public finances


Actually, if you pick up the Scotsman today, you'll note that the Chancellor was criticised by the Tories because the Treasury's figures have assumed that, due to decreased uptake, this increase will not actually result in any increase in income.

Quote:
Whisky is already taxed more heavily than any other alchoholic drink.


I don't think that's true.
Quote:


And what drinks consumed in the binge drinking culture in our communities? These could include cider or designer drinks but little evidence that whisky would be top in such a list or drinks misused by most particularly younger people.


Yeah, because vodka etc is cheaper. Dodgy folk drink whatever is cheap. They don't give a toss what it tastes like.

Quote:
The alchoholic volume of whisky is strong (and over taxed compared to other drinks) the arguments from Av are clearly weak lol


OMG TEH LOLZ !!11  Rolling Eyes
mairead

Where is most, if not all, of the British wine produced? Yup, England. Any paltry increase in wine then, will not affect the English wine producers, but if whisky goes up much more, there will be job losses in that industry. That's what peeves me.
Aventinian

mairead wrote:
Where is most, if not all, of the British wine produced? Yup, England. Any paltry increase in wine then, will not affect the English wine producers, but if whisky goes up much more, there will be job losses in that industry. That's what peeves me.


Uh-huh, because that's exactly why they chose these tax levels, to screw over the Scots as ever... despite, of course, the Chancellor and PM both being Scottish.

There really is no end to the madness. Rolling Eyes
Red Justice

Aventinian wrote:
mairead wrote:
Where is most, if not all, of the British wine produced? Yup, England. Any paltry increase in wine then, will not affect the English wine producers, but if whisky goes up much more, there will be job losses in that industry. That's what peeves me.


Uh-huh, because that's exactly why they chose these tax levels, to screw over the Scots as ever... despite, of course, the Chancellor and PM both being Scottish.

There really is no end to the madness. Rolling Eyes


Mad! Quislings in Westminster and in our Scottish population Shocked
Aventinian

Red Justice wrote:
Mad! Quislings in Westminster and in our Scottish population Shocked


Mad indeed.

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