Warning issued to UK households buying bottles of wine after Saturday
A warning has been issued to UK households buying bottles of wine this weekend. Wine drinkers looking forward to the end of Dry January can also expect a sharp rise in the cost of a bottle as Labour presses ahead with its alcohol duty rise.
Prices will go up this weekend because of a new scheme that taxes alcohol based on its strength. The duty had come into effect on August 1, 2023 but the former Conservative Party government introduced a temporary reprieve for wines with a strength (ABV) between 11.5 per cent and 14.5 per cent, taxed at a flat rate of 12.5 per cent.
February 1 will see this temporary change axed and the Wine Society says the industry had become 'a target for legislators', The Times reports. Hal Wilson, co-founder of Cambridge Wine Merchants, also asked whether the government was 'unwittingly penalising high quality wine producers'.
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Miles Beale, head of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, has also slammed the shake up from the new Labour Party government. An HM Treasury spokesman said: "The alcohol duty reforms have modernised and simplified the duty system, prioritising public health and incentivising consumption of lower strength products."
One drinker fumed: "Government cannot tax these so are taxing legitimate alcohol drugs. More people will probably move to these untaxed sources. I sometimes wonder if the people running our country have any sense. They are encouraging the black market and they will lose tax money and more people will turn to unsafe and alcohol alternatives. If people want a high they will go to the cheapest. Keep taxes reasonable and it will not change people’s habits but will stop illegal sales."
"But remaining the same in the taxpayer subsidised bars and restaurants in the Westminster bubble as the taxpayer subsidy is rising to cover the increase," a second commented. A third said: "Governments never seem to understand the balance between inordinate taxation, unemployment, and welfare expenditure brought about by the unemployed. Tax increases, consumption decreases (less tax), businesses become unprofitable and close and, workers are sacked.
"Neither do they acknowledge the many people leaving countries for other places where they can afford to live. High net wealth individuals and others are leaving the UK and other Western Countries in droves taking their wealth with them."