Beer and wine could get SECOND duty hike in a year in Budget, industry fears
BOOZE could be slapped with yet more taxes if Philip Hammond hikes alcohol duty again tomorrow, industry bosses fear.
The Chancellor is being urged to freeze alcohol duty after it was revealed in March that it would rise in line with inflation, or 3.9 per cent.
The first hike in five years has seen an increased strain on local pubs - with wine up by 8p, vodka up by 40p and gin by 43p.
Britain's alcohol is among the most heavily taxed in the world - with the third highest duty rate for wine, and fourth-highest for spirits.
Pubs across the UK have still been closing at the rate of 23 a year, despite years of tax cuts and freezes under George Osborne.
Philip Hammond will deliver his Autumn Budget to MPs tomorrow - and is widely expected to include giveaways for young people to win them back over to the Tories.
Brigid Simmonds, CEO of the British Beer and Pub Association, told the that pubs need a fairer deal.
She said: "We’ve already had one big tax hike this year and pubs can’t afford another one.
"It hits pubs and pubgoers – and pub workers losing their jobs means less tax collected by the Chancellor."
And Miles Beale, CEO of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, said: "It’s a real possibility that pubs and bars could close – landlords across the country already pay about £843 million in wine and spirits duty, which works out at almost £17,000 per pub."
It comes as the Chancellor is being urged to give pub landlords a tax break - after 15,000 boozers across the country are now facing an average 19 per cent hike in their bills.
The Sun on Sunday's Give Britain's Boozers a Break campaign highlights the crippling cost of business rates which are hammering the local businesses.
Britain's biggest booze boss - Diageo chief Ivan Menezes - has told Philip Hammond it defies belief the Government “punishes” home-made drinks such as Johnnie Walker when other European countries “protect” their producers.
In a letter seen by the Sun he stormed: “We are exactly the kind of unique British product the UK needs to thrive after Brexit.
“It is inexplicable to apply punitive rates of taxation to a great British industry – 80 per cent of the price of an average bottle of Scotch - while applying much lower rates to wine, 99 per cent of which is imported into the UK.”
Diageo argues that tax revenues from spirits have FALLEN since April – by £5million – because the higher price has put off shoppers.
Scots Tory boss Ruth Davidson has been lobbying the Treasury on behalf of Scotch whisky makers.
The tobacco industry have also been warning that cigarettes could go above £10 a pack as prices continue to rise.
In March cigarettes went up by 25p a pack.
Tobacco is subject to a two per cent rise in duty every year, and on top of that there's now a minimum level of tax that can be charged on each set too.
Will Hill from British American Tobacco UK, who makes Lucky Strikes, Benson & Hedges and Pall Mall, told the Sun Online: “These increases added together mean many smokers have seen their out of pocket spend on a pack of cigarettes go up by £1 this year already.
"Yet another excise increase in 2017 could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and forces many smokers into the cheaper-priced black market."
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