AUSTRALIA’S tax on alcohol will rise again today, prompting warnings that taxed-spirits are becoming unaffordable and that rising drink costs are driving demand for cheap, illicit alternatives.
The excise hike — one of the largest six-monthly increases outside of COVID — will see the tax on RTDs and spirits such as whisky, gin and rum rise to $110.15 a litre.
Australia already has the highest spirits tax in the world outside of Scandinavia, with the federal government expected to raise $9.1bn in total alcohol taxes this year alone.
For a standard 700ml bottle of spirits, approximately $30 goes directly to Canberra in alcohol excise, and that’s before GST is added on.
The latest tax rise comes after research has shown illicit alcohol is now being sold alongside legal, taxed products in Australian bottle-shops, with some products containing dangerous contaminants.
Spirits Council of Australia executive director Steven Fanner said: “We have a system where twice-yearly tax hikes on alcohol have been on auto-pilot since the early 1980s.
“This means that from next week the tax on spirits is now over $110 per litre of pure alcohol – a rate six times higher than the United States and about double New Zealand.
“This is not a system that should be a set-and-forget — without reform the government risks amyriad of unintended consequences, including driving demand for cheap, black-market alternatives.
“We have seen what has happened with tobacco — when relentless tax increases and inadequate enforcement created market opportunities ripe for exploitation.
“We have a narrow window of opportunity to prevent the same thing happening with spirits inAustralia”
For interviews with Steven Fanner please call Isadora Jackson: 0452 633 145
More information on Australian alcohol taxes can be found here.
