Drinks industry slams Budget as ‘lazy’ and counterproductive (UK)

The Chancellor’s decision to continue the automatic tax escalator on drinks has been denounced as a ‘lazy cash grab’ and satirised as ‘our own Olympic record’ by drinks professionals. In today’s Budget announcement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, said the alcohol tax escalator which automatically increases tax on alcohol by 2% above inflation, will stay. This will see duty on alcohol rise by 7.2%, meaning that tax on a bottle of wine represents around 56% of the cost of the bottle. From 26 March, consumers will now pay £0.11 more on a 75cl bottle of wine, £0.41 more on a 70cl bottle of spirits at 37.5% abv and £0.03 more on a pint of beer, reports Decanter.