British beer tax gap grows ever wider on the Beer Escalator to ruin
By: JimOldfield
September 16th, 2012
The tax gap between what British beer drinkers have to pay for their pint, compared to their European neighbours, has become even wider, the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) chief, Brigid Simmonds has warned.
As the association published its latest “statistics bible for the beer and pub industry”, the Statistical Handbook 2012, chief executive Mrs Simmonds revealed that pint for pint, British beer drinkers now pay NINE times more Beer Tax than the French, and an astonishing THIRTEEN times more than the Germans.
In the EU, only Finland slaps a higher tax on beer than the UK Treasury.
The trend is set to continue, with the Government’s controversial beer duty escalator if action isn’t taken, she added.
She warned: “Behind these numbers lie the key issues facing our industry. “With almost a million jobs depending on the beer and pub sector, action is needed to bring the tax on beer more into line with neighbouring states.”
The handbook showed that UK Alcohol consumption, per capita, fell once again in 2011 – from 8.4 to 8.3 litres per head – and is now 12 per cent lower than in 2004.
Yet the handbook shows that Britain has more breweries now than at any time since the 1930s.
The average price of a pint of beer in tenanted/leased pubs is £2.85, in independent pubs £2.87 and in managed pubs £2.91.
Of the handbook, Mrs Simmonds said: “This and a wealth of other data should prove an essential reference took for anyone wanting to understand this unique British industry”.
On a positive note, the e-petition calling on the Government to scrap the beer duty escalator has nearly attained its target 100,000 signatures.
And Mrs Simmonds has hailed the arrival of the Government’s new Community Pubs Minister, Brandon Lewis.
She said: “I welcome Brandon Lewis to this post and hope to meet him soon. He has a good track record supporting small businesses.
“There has never been a greater need for a pubs champion in the Government.
“We will certainly be pressing the case for action on a range of fronts, not least of which is for the Pubs Minister to champion a freeze in beer duty within the Government and to keep moving forward on cutting red tape for pubs.”
Hand-Pumped link:
BBPA
