Price of beer to rise again as it’s revealed Australians are slugged harder on the tax than any other country
- The biggest cost of Australian beer is tax, equating to 42% for a typical carton
- On Monday, tax on beer will surge again, going up 21 cents per litre on draught
- Aussies pay eight more times tax than the US and 18 times more than Germany
Tax is the biggest cost for Aussie beer, and it makes up 42 per cent of a typical carton
The price of beer in Australia continues to soar, as it’s revealed nearly half the cost of a carton of goes toward tax.
Tax is the biggest cost for Aussie beer, and it makes up 42 per cent of a typical carton, according to research from the University of Adelaide.
On Monday the levy on beer is set to skyrocket again, going up 21 cents per litre on draught and 30 cents per litre for stubbies, cans and longnecks.
Professor Kym Anderson found Australians pay more than three times the average of other developed countries, with Aussies slugged $2.19 per litre in duties alone for packaged beer.
Australians pay eight more times tax than the US, and a whopping 18 times more beer tax than Germany and nearly 40 cent more than Britain.
Australians are just behind Norway, Japan and Finland who pay the highest beer tax in the world.
However Aussies fork out the most in terms of highest proportion of income compared with countries who have the same amount of money.
Beer taxes funneled more than $3.6 billion into the federal budget last year.
Scott Morrison teased beer lovers in the 2018’s budget by pledging to reduce costs for craft brewers.
The beer lobby is pushing the Federal Government for lower prices for a case of beer or a pint in order to revive pubs and nightlife
But the reduced costs would likely not make a difference on the wallets of drinkers, with a number of brewers saying they wouldn’t reduce the price of beer and instead planned to invest their saved money back into their business.
The beer lobby is pushing the Federal Government for lower prices for a case of beer or a pint in order to revive pubs and nightlife.
Brewers Association chief executive Brett Heffernan proposed that the Morrison Government to raise the excise-free threshold on draught and packaged beer.
This would mean a saving of around $1.60 off a carton 17 cents off a schooner of beer.
But the impressive savings would take a $250 million chunk out of the federal budget every year.
‘Correcting our runaway and regressive beer tax regime is relatively quick, easy, cheap and long overdue,’ Mr Heffernan told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Binge drinking is at a 55-year low, and recent ABS statistics show 84 per cent of Australians drink within two drinks a day.
‘Yet, while Australians are drinking less alcohol in their beers, they are paying an artificially-inflated premium due to exorbitant tax,’ Mr Heffernan said.
On Monday the tax on beer is set to surge again, going up 21 cents per litre on draught and 30 cents per litre for stubbies, cans and longnecks