Drinkers face new tax on stronger wine brands to tackle binge drinking

 

Bottles of wine with the highest levels of alcohol may be taxed under Government plans to reduce our drinking levels. Public Health minister Anne Milton said the levy, recently introduced for super-strength lager, had already forced industry bosses to drop alcohol strength to get below the duty level. She raised the possibility it could lead to price hikes on other drinks to encourage the same effect. Speaking to MPs yesterday, she said the Department of Health was in ‘ongoing discussions’ with the Treasury about how price changes could encourage safer drinking, and said taxing super-strength alcohol was a ‘move in the right direction’. A 25 per cent tax hike on beer containing more than 7.5 per cent proof was announced by Chancellor George Osborne in the March budget  – equivalent to 25p per can. Miss Milton said yesterday: ‘Already there has been a response from industry, already they are dropping alcohol strength to get below that duty level.  ‘There is no doubt that price can manipulate the market, so increasing duty on high-strength alcohol is not a bad idea, because what you is that for every litre sold there is less alcohol in it, which is a move in the right direction’, she told the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee.