No cheer for pubs and beer drinkers as excise set to rise again this year
Pubs and brewers are bracing themselves for a rise in the fresh beer excise tax which is set to increase in August for the second time this year.
This week a punter shared a snapshot from the Common Bar and Kitchen at Perth airport advertising a local tap ale for $17.20 per pint.
Chief Executive of the Brewers Association of Australia, John Preston said the industry was worried about the increasing costs in Australia where tax on beer is the fourth highest in the world.
“The price of a beer at a bottle shop or in the pub is impacted by inflation in the same way as all other products. What we also see with beer however is the twice-yearly beer excise increases bringing extra financial pain to pubs, clubs and beer drinkers,” Preston told Daily Mail Australia.
“Australia’s beer tax is the fourth highest in the world and it goes up twice a year. The last increase in February was the largest in over ten years and the next one in August will be even larger.
“The Brewers Association has been calling for Federal Government action on beer tax to ease the cost pressure on pubs and clubs which are being hit hard by Australia’s high beer tax rate, while they are still trying to recover from the impacts of COVID-19,” Preston said.
Excise duty per litre of alcohol was raised in February by a factor of 1.021 based on freight price inflation. This meant the average price of a schooner in Sydney jumped from $8.10 to $8.50.
That price is set to rise again.
Irit Jackson, 4th July 2022
