This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
News
Spirits industry responds to UK Budget
The UK spirits industry is largely “pleased” with Chancellor George Osborne’s 2016 Budget Statement, “welcoming” the move to freeze spirits duty.
The UK Government has opted to freeze spirits duty, with the trade largely welcoming the move
In yesterday’s Budget, Osborne said the Scotch whisky industry accounts for a fifth of all of the UK’s food and drink exports.
“So we back Scotland and back that vital industry too, with a freeze on whisky and other spirits duty this year,” he said.
As a result of the freeze, tax – VAT and excise duty – remains at 76%, a level that three quarters of the British public believe is too high. The excise duty on a 70cl bottle of Scotch at the average price of £13 is £7.59 and the total tax burden is £9.91.
Last year’s 2% cut in excise helped boost revenue from spirits for the Treasury by £102 million, and ahead of the Budget the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) launched a ‘Stand up for Scotch’ campaign calling for a repeat in 2016.
Scotch Whisky Association chief executive David Frost said: “We welcome the freeze in excise duty on spirits. We hope that this will sustain continued growth in the UK market for Scotch Whisky and thus help improve the public finances. But tax is still 76% of the price of an average bottle of Scotch and the majority of the British public think that is unfairly high. We will continue to call for fairer taxation of Scotch, a vital UK industry, and we urge duty reductions in future years.”
Diageo Great Britain managing director Andrew Cowan said: “Scotch, as a home grown industry, flies the flag for the UK abroad and the alcohol industry as a whole generates billions for the UK economy. This year’s freeze on beer and spirits will help to continue this. We have already seen the positive impact that last year’s duty cut had on industries such as Scotch whisky and so tonight, people across the nation will once again raise a toast to the Chancellor.”
Wine and Spirit Trade Association chief executive Miles Beale said: “We are pleased with the Chancellor’s decision to freeze spirits duty. The 26m spirits consumers will raise a glass to that tonight!” However he expressed disappointment that the UK’s wine industry was not included in the duty freeze.
What do you think of the 2016 Budget Statement? How will it affect you and your business? Let us know in the comments below.