The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) has launched a major new campaign urging George Osborne to freeze Beer Duty at next month’s Budget.
The TPA wants the Chancellor to call time on the hated “Beer Duty Escalator” which has seen Beer Duty increase by over 40% in just four years, meaning that today around one third of the price of a pint at your local pub goes straight to the taxman.
Beermat campaign
The campaign will see hundreds of thousands of beermats distributed to pubs across the UK, giving the public the facts about tax on beer, and inviting them to send a message to their local MP calling for action from George Osborne on March 20th.
The public can also visit Mash Beer Tax and, having entered their postcode, send a message directly to their MP urging them to press the Chancellor for a freeze in Beer Duty.
Key beer tax facts:
- Beer Duty has risen by 42% in the last four years
- Beer Duty in the UK is the second highest in the EU27, ten times the level in Germany, for example
- When you buy a pint, you are taxed three times, paying VAT, Beer Duty and then VAT on the Beer Duty
- About one third of the average price of a pint of beer bought in a pub is now tax
- When the Beer Duty Escalator seriously started to impact on prices in 2009, a ComRes poll found that 70% of people thought further real terms rises in duty rates were unjustified
- According to CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale), over 5,800 pubs have closed since the Beer Duty Escalator was introduced in 2008 and they continue to close at a rate of eighteen per week
- In February 2009, Jeremy Hunt MP, then Shadow Culture Secretary and now Health Secretary, lamented the number of pubs closing, blaming the Beer Duty Escalator for “making a bad situation a whole lot worse”
The Institute for Public Policy Research concluded in March 2009 that “there should be no further increases in beer duty at a time of escalating pub closures”.
Matthew Sinclair, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:
“Beer is already taxed more in the UK than almost every other country in Europe. Yet another rise in Beer Duty at this year’s Budget would be a further blow to people already struggling with the increasing cost of living. It would also harm the scores of pubs whose existence is under threat because ever higher taxes are putting people off going for a drink.
“In opposition, Conservative and Lib Dem politicians were quick to decry the Beer Duty Escalator for the burden it places on people wanting to enjoy a drink and the threat it poses to pubs up and down the country. They’re now in a position to do something about it.
“The abolition of the Beer Duty Escalator is long overdue and a freeze in the rate at this year’s Budget would help people coping with so many other pressures on their finances.”
About the TaxPayers’ Alliance
Founded in 2004 by Matthew Elliott and now with 75,000 supporters, the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) fights to reform taxes, cut spending and protect taxpayers.
For more information about the TaxPayers’ Alliance click here
For more information about Mash Beer Tax click here