Calls for alcohol tax hike to fund addicts rehab

A new tax on alcohol should be implemented in order to fund the rehabilitation of drink and drug addicts, a UK think tank has urged.

The Centre for Social Justice has “strongly recommended” alcohol taxes are increased in the UK off-trade to fund rehab centres

According to a report by the Central for Social Justice (CSJ), a “treatment tax” on alcohol sold in the off-trade, which would put up the cost of bottles by 2p per unit, should be implemented by 2024.

The CSJ has recommended that the UK Government should fund a new generation of residential rehabilitation centres to treat 58,000 alcohol and drug addicts a year. The measure has been suggested to combat Britain’s widespread addiction problem, which is putting a strain on the nation’s health resources.

According to CSJ figures, 260,000 people in England are addicted to alcohol, while 300,000 are addicted to drugs.

“Due to chronic underinvestment in effective, abstinence-based rehabilitation in the UK, the sector needs significant funds to develop enough rehabilitation centres to reduce the sizable drug and alcohol addicted populations,” the report read.

Between 2015 and 2017, the CSJ has recommended an increase of half a pence tax on every unit of alcohol sold in shops, rising to 1.5p between 2018 and 2020, 1.5p a unit between 2021 and 2023, and 2p per unit by 2024.

It is estimated that such hikes will raise £155m from 2015, gradually rising to around £520m a year from 2024. The “ring-fenced” tax will also apply to the off-trade only, and will not be levied onto pub or bar sales.

According to analysis by the CSJ, this treatment tax could fund the creation and running of 350 new rehabilitation centres with an average of 40 beds over a nine-year period.

However, a Department of Health spokesperson told the BBC that the UK Government was not considering a tax increase on particular drinks, and was instead “reducing alcohol harm by giving local authorities a £5.4bn budget to help them manage public health issues including alcohol and drug services”.

In February this year, the government banned the sale of below cost alcohol before the start of the FIFA World Cup in order to curb the prevalence of “pre-laoding”.