In welcome news ahead of the weekend, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is said to be tabling a proposal to halt taxes on beer. I’ll drink to that!
The move is part of the PM’s election promise to tackle the cost of living crisis (one beer at a time), with the Labor Government set to get the ball rolling with the tax cap in parliament today.
It will stop the increasing price of a schooner (or let’s be real, pint) by tabling tariff proposals to stop the excise and customs duty on beer, and will come into effect from August 1.
That means the related legislation will be amended to temporarily pause the indexation on excise and customs duty.
How long is ‘temporarily’, you ask? Well, once ratified by primary legislation to be introduced in coming months, the beer tax cap will apparently remain in place for two years.
That’s ample time to make use of a cold, tax-frozen bevvy, particularly as schooner prices soar to as much as $15 in major cities. In other words, an arm and a leg(less).
But there’s a slight catch.
The move only applies to beers coming off tap in a licensed hospitality venue, meaning only the brews from your local watering hole will be blessed with the tax freeze.
Heartbreakingly for everyone already organising pres, beer and alcohol prices at your local bottle shop are not included in the tax freeze, and are expected to continue rising.
While Albanese last year said the government was “not looking at” beer tax caps, he boasted about the move more recently in a statement to news.com.au.
“Continuing to deliver cost of living relief to Australians is our number one priority,’’ the prime minister said.
He went on to tout the benefit of the move for both beer drinkers and publicans, who have warned of the soaring prices driving away customers.
“Freezing the excise on draught beer is a common sense measure that is good for beer drinkers, good for brewers and good for pubs,” Albanese said.
It’s one of multiple election promises the PM is seeking to fulfill since winning the election, with his HECS debt cuts hitting parliament earlier this week.
Perhaps his beer tax freeze promise was inevitable, since this is the guy who gleefully downed a cold one at a Gang of Youths concert way back when.
Cheers!
Lead images: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images and Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)
The post The Labor Govt’s Beer Tax Freeze Will Come Into Effect Next Month & I’ll Drink To That appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
