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Aussie beer drinkers could soon pay up to $15 for a pint with biggest tax hike in three decades

Daniela PizziraniNCA NewsWire
Beer drinkers will soon face up to $15 pints at the pub. Supplied.
Camera IconBeer drinkers will soon face up to $15 pints at the pub. Supplied. Credit: News Corp Australia

Beer drinkers could soon be forking out up to $10 for a schooner and $15 for a pint as the industry is hit with the biggest tax increase in 30 years.

The biannual indexation brought in on Monday resulted in a 4 per cent increase – which is equivalent to $2.50 per litre.

Brewers Association of Australia chief executive John Preston told NCA NewsWire Australians were taxed on beer more than almost any other nation, with an overall rise from $53.59 to $55.73 per litre of pure ­alcohol.

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Pub patrons may soon feel the pinch with the prospect of the increase being passed on.

Pints could soon cost $15 while schooners have been tipped to increase from $8 in metro areas to almost $10.

“We have seen almost 20 increases in Australia‘s beer tax over the past decade alone,” he said.

He said it was disappointing as the brewing industry and the hospitality industry make a big contribution to Australia.

“We’re a big part of Australian life you know,” he said.

Mr Preston said bigger craft breweries, particularly those who have got their own pub and hospitality facilities, would feel the tax pinch the most, making it “difficult for them to trade”.

“For a small pub, club or other venue the latest tax hike will mean an increase of more than $2700 a year in their tax bill – at a time when they are still struggling to deal with the ongoing impacts of the pandemic,” he said.

Brewers and pub and club operators are “extremely disappointed” the former Federal government did not deliver on a proposed reduction in beer tax at this year’s March budget.

Hospitalit Awards and Beer Tax
Camera IconPub owners are being hit with massive tax hikes following two years of lockdown. Chris Kidd Credit: News Corp Australia

“This is a problem that the new Treasurer has inherited from his predecessors and there are many competing demands on the Budget. Nonetheless, we believe there is a strong case for beer tax relief to be provided by the new Federal Government – with the hidden beer tax to go up again in February 2023.“ he said.

“We had 25 coalition MPs write to the Treasurer, supporting the draft pay tax to be halved and then it came out, so we were really disappointed that it didn‘t happen.”

The BAA is pleading with the Government to provide tax relief before the tax goes up again in February next year, but Treasurer Jim Chalmers has not committed to anything.

“We listen respectfully to ideas put to us, but having ­inherited a trillion dollars in debt, and with lots of other pressures on the budget, it’s not possible to fund every one of them,” Dr Chalmers said.

Originally published as Aussie beer drinkers could soon pay up to $10 for schooner

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