Australians hit with new alcohol tax as industry leader issues dire warning on its impact
Under the Albanese government, the cost of spirits rose from $104.31 per litre to $105.98 per litre, which is one of the priciest in the world. Meanwhile, the beer excise has been frozen.
Currently, the spirits excise undergoes a twice-yearly indexation update.
General Manager of the Australian Distillers Association, Cameron Mackenzie, said the increase would have repercussions on the industry.
'It certainly isn't going to help,' he told Nat Barr on Sunrise on Monday.
'(Currently we have) a tax system that was brought in in the 1980s, when Australia really didn't have a distilling industry. We maybe had five or six distilleries.
'Now, we have over 700 distilleries in Australia. From a manufacturing, innovation, job, tourism, event from an export point of view, (this tax) is going to hurt that end of the scale, but no-one can keep absorbing these tax increases.
'We have two tax increases a year, forever.'
Mackenzie said the price hike will be passed on to customers.
'So ultimately it has to be passed on to consumers, which means all of the hospitality venues in Australia, restaurant, bar, pubs, club, are all going to get stung with this and ultimately it goes on to the consumer,' he said.
'The consumer is far less likely to go out to a venue if their drink prices keep going up.'
Mackenzie said multiple tax increases mean the industry never has a respite.
'It is not so much this isolated incident of one tax increase that is the problem,' he said.
'I was one of the co-founders of Four Pillars Distillery in Healesville (in the Yarra Valley). We launched that in 2013, we have had 24 tax increases.
'It is this cumulative effect of tax increases and that is why you are penalised if you are a spirits drinker.
'We are already taxed two-and-a-half times on beer, so a freeze on beer is welcomed but let's extend that to spirits as well.'
At the last increase in February, spirits exceeding 10 per cent by volume of alcohol went up from $103.89 per litre to $104.31 per litre.
Mackenzie called on the government for change.
'There was a parliamentary inquiry into manufacturing that included alcohol and it had bipartisan support for a proper inquiry into the way that alcohol is taxed in Australia.
'So, both sides of government agree.
'I think that the freeze on beer tax is an indication that they are willing to have that conversation now. This isn't the 1980s. It is 2025.
'We need a more modern tax structure, a standard drink is a standard drink, and it should be taxed accordingly.'
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