Budget plea to slash beer tax so pint in a pub is not an ‘unaffordable luxury’

BEER drinkers are paying 10 times as much tax on a pint as their German counterparts, figures have revealed.

They have boosted calls for Chancellor Philip Hammond to cut the duty in his Budget next month.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance has joined forces with the British Beer and Pub Association to highlight how tax adds 52p to the cost of a pint and is three times the EU average.

Their research also showed alcohol duty costs average households one per cent of disposable income – £263 a year – but takes the highest percentage of income from the poorest.

The groups want Mr Hammond to start to reduce duty in his November 22 Budget. TaxPayers’ Alliance chief John O’Connell said: “It isn’t fair to expect consumers to pay more and more for a pint of beer just so that the taxman can rake more money in. It’s also hugely damaging to the pub trade.”

Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: “The tax on beer in Britain is already an astonishing three times the EU average – yet further tax rises are planned.

“This hits jobs, pubs and pubgoers. A pint in the pub must not become an unaffordable luxury so it’s time for a rethink.” Tim Dewey, chief executive of Yorkshire brewers Timothy Taylor, said: “With beer representing over two-thirds of alcoholic drinks sold, it is truly the drink of the Great British Pub.

“With over 80 per cent of this beer brewed in Britain, lower beer taxes would boost a great British industry and help hundreds of smaller brewers in every part of the country.”

Yesterday the Treasury declined to speculate ahead of the Budget but said the beer industry made an “important contribution” to the economy.

It said businesses and their customers had saved more than £2billion since 2013, when then Chancellor George Osborne reduced beer tax.