Dismantling the Budget, Part 1: Alcohol, Cigarettes and Fuel
by Part of deconstructing the budget, looking at Alastair Darling’s plan for the British economy. In this section I will be looking at tobacco, alcohol and fuel.
• Alcohol taxes to go up 2% – one estimate is that it would put 5p on the average pint of beer.
This was going to be inevitable. Beer, tobacco and petrol always go up during the budgets. It’s very irritating though, mainly due to the fact that Britain is a nation of drinkers. We love our beer, and each day more and more pubs close down as they just can’t turn a profit. If the tax was dropped a little, then it would encourage people to buy alcohol and help stimulate the economy. But the government seems to think that the best solution to binge drinking is to price alcohol out of the range of most people, rather than analyzing WHY people drink in the first place.
• Tax on tobacco to go up by 2%
I’m not too bothered on this one. I smoke about one a day (tops) and half of my cigarettes go to other people. Apart from that, the above applies almost word for word.
• Fuel duty to rise by 2p per litre from September, then by 1p a litre above indexation each April for the next four years.
Honestly, if you didn’t see this coming then you need your eyes testing. Just be glad that the figure wasn’t much higher. We can only hope that the extra money will be put to good use. Increasing it above RPI for four years is a little extreme, but it may be counteracted by the new car scrapping scheme.
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