Monday,
24 June 2002
DRUG
ACTION WEEK HIGHLIGHTS GROWING
SUPPORT FOR ALCOHOL TAX REFORM
Drug Action Week 2002, which kicks off today around the nation,
is a timely reminder of the mounting support for alcohol tax reform,
said the Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia.
The organisers of Drug Action
Week, the Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia (ADCA)
– the national peak body for the drugs and alcohol sector –
have recently released their Alcohol
Taxation Policy Statement calling for significant changes
to the current alcohol taxation structure.
This policy statement adds to the growing calls from significant
sections within both the health lobby and the alcohol industry for a
fundamental re-think on alcohol taxation. It states:
| |
“ADCA
believes that all alcoholic beverages should be taxed consistently
according to their alcohol content. …Taxation according to
alcohol content would represent sound and progressive health,
economic and social policy making. ADCA is supported by a broad
coalition of organisations and individuals in promoting this policy
approach.” |
ADCA calls for alcohol taxes that do not “distort
production and consumption decisions”, that “closely substitutable
products (be) taxed at similar rates”, and for clear incentives
to encourage the production and consumption of lower-alcohol beverages.
The policy statement also notes that “present Commonwealth
Government alcohol taxation policy promotes alcoholic beverages that
cause most harm”, that the Wine Equalisation Tax disadvantages
small wine producers and “may actually be discouraging innovation
and production of premium wines and encouraging mass production of lower
quality wines”, and that consolidation in the alcohol industry
amongst brewers, winemakers and distillers “strengthens the argument
for a single, consistent alcohol tax regimen”.
DSICA has long been calling for a comprehensive inquiry
into the current ad hoc alcohol taxation structure which taxes alcohol
according to its method of manufacture, rather than alcohol strength.
For example, comparing equal amounts of alcohol, a standard drink of
spirits pays over twice as much tax as beer or bottled wine, and nearly
twelve times as much tax as cask wine. Furthermore, although spirits
make up only 12% of Australia’s alcohol market, they pay 28% of
the government’s total alcohol taxation revenue – over twice
their fair share.
DSICA welcomes these growing calls for reform of the current
alcohol taxation structure, and calls on all interested groups, and
the major political parties, to embrace the spirit of Drug
Action Week and lend their support to a comprehensive alcohol
taxation inquiry – to review the existing ad hoc arrangements,
ensure appropriate levels of tax are applied to each category on a consistent
policy basis and to provide clear incentives to choose drinks least
associated with harm.
View
PDF: Unfair and Unequal Tax Per Equal Amounts of Alcohol (PDF
59kb)
View
PDF: Unfair and Unequal Tax Per Market Share (PDF 32kb)
