We were fine when inflation came for our spinach. We held strong when the price went up on our fuel. But how are Australians going to cope when the latest beer tax increase brings the price of a pint up to $15?
The biannual indexation coming in today will result in Australia’s beer excise tax making its biggest jump in 30 years, with prices set to increase by 4%, or $2.50 a litre.
You might make some savings by skipping the pub for the bottle shop, but you can’t escape it entirely: taxes on a slab are rising to $18.80 too, a hike of about 80 cents. It’s unclear when these increases will be passed on to consumers in pubs or the bottle-o.
Brewers Association CEO John Preston is asking the Albanese government for some relief, claiming that Australia is taxed more on beer than almost any other nation.
“We have seen almost 20 increases in Australia’s beer tax over the past decade alone,” Preston said.
“Sadly, we’re now seeing the effect as pub patrons will soon be faced with the prospect of regularly paying around $15 for a pint at their local.”
Or — for the majority of you that drink schooners, rather than an English pint — that’d take an $8 schooie up to around $8.30, which is likely to be rounded up to $9 or even $10.
Preston said this is going to have a devastating impact on venues just coming back from COVID-19, but acknowledged that this was a tax inherited from the former government.
“Brewers and pub and club operators were extremely disappointed the former government did not deliver on a proposed reduction in beer tax at this year’s March budget.”
Morrison’s beer tax cut debacle
So why didn’t the Morrison government end up slashing the beer tax again?
Cast your mind back to the preelection days of early 2022 when then prime minister Scott Morrison was clutching at straws to stay in power and suggested a 50% cut to the beer tax in the March budget.
There was pushback from many (including Crikey), saying that this tax cut would overwhelmingly benefit men — not a good look for a government that, as we were about to find out in a very dramatic way, had a massive woman problem.
On top of that, a number of organisations and health professionals signed an open letter addressed to then treasurer Josh Frydenberg, arguing against any alcohol tax cuts for health reasons.
So what does Jim Chalmers say about it all? He has said he’ll look at potential relief, but makes absolutely no promises.
Labor’s war on workers?
Some punters have been quick to take a very Sky News-esque line and say that this is all part and parcel for the new “progressive Left elites”.
And, hey, given the tax increase comes at the same time that the ultimate hipster food, avocados, are hitting an all-time low price in Australia, they might be onto something…
But in reality, a tinnie of Newtowner is going to be taxed too — and the Australian government has been hitting Aussies hard with excise charges, import duties, taxes and exemptions on all forms of alcohol since Federation.
“The progressive Left elites are very happy to tax beer drinkers.
Another confirmation that Albanese’s Labor couldn’t give a stuff about the ‘worker’ and is more concerned with its own importance.”
It’s so strange that drink choice is still seen through a class lens. What is this, the 1960s?
“Sadly, the tipple is increasingly a known risk factor in disease, in addition to crimes committed under the influence.”
Really?? This is the first I’ve heard about this!!
Seriously, how does that have any relevance to the point I was making about outdated notions of beer being a worker’s drink?
Given all the recent moralizing about Alcohol by a number of Crikey subscribers, I expect they won’t have any issue with raising taxes on it!
I would have more of an issue if the taxes on alcoholic beverages were not raised lex. How about you?
I think that this is an issue that is well worth ‘moralizing’ about.
If ‘wowsers’ like myself had their way then there would be far fewer problems in our society and especially in indigenous communities.
Don’t care as I don’t drink but as I said the Wowsers like you won’t have a problem with it. Legal product and you should take your moralizing to your Federal Member (you won’t get far!).
lex, tobacco is also a ‘legal product’ but it is (quite properly) heavily regulated. The same sort of thing should apply to alcohol products.
I prefer to take ‘my moralizing’ to the Crikey blog site rather than my Federal Member because of the reason that you give.
Yes but that means that we have to put up with your never-ending moralizing about legal products and services. Talk to your Federal Member instead.
It’s easy to be moral when it only demands others make the sacrifice.
Agreed. I grew up with the ‘moralising’ from a strict Methodist background and the imperiousness towards those that consumed alcohol was just the tip of the swizzle stick. They just tended to be mean-spirited, cold, stone-hearted people. ‘Alcohol’ was just a soap-box to stand on.
Big deal. Per capita beer consumption has been declining steadily since the 70s. The only growth is at the designer – expensive – end of the market where demand seems quite unaffected by price. Perhaps we need a progressive beer tax scale.
How about we ramp up the tax on the seemingly endless numbers of “craft” beers emerging and reduce it on the ordinary beers (ones here for at least 50 years)?
What utter nonsense. Although these days I don’t frequent pubs much, I can’t remember paying less than $10 (often much more) for a schooner for years. It would be a community service to identify the venues charging only $8. I doubt it would be a long list.
OK I’ll be the pedant. In contrast to the article’s examples, in Victoria we still often prefer “pots” (285ml) to the imported-from-NSW-name “schooners” (435ml) or the imported-from-England-name “pints” (568ml). And it’s my contention that those larger sizes have been forced upon us southerners only over the past ten or so years by the beer companies to, well, make us drink more of their product. But as many others point out, these days having a beer or two is much less common, and prices just continue to rise. So, a smaller, cheaper (and usually colder) pot glass makes sense.
Or the lady’s glass, the 5oz/140mlpony.
Make mine a thimbleful of New.
Wasn’t the Pony? In the days of yore.
In many Sydney pubs these days it assumed that you want a pint; schooners have to be requested. Don’t even mention middies or ponies.
Same in Melbourne. I assume it’s a similar sell-up line to the fast food outlets that “assume” you’re ordering the more expensive meal deal if you don’t actually specify.