Gin’s £225m tonic for the taxman

ONCE demonised as Mother’s Ruin and a threat to society, gin is now putting a smile on the face of the Treasury.

Government income from duty and VAT on sales of spirits has overtaken that for beer for the first time and it is purely down to the success of gin, with sales up 12 per cent in the past year, according to the Wine and Spirits Trade Association.

The Treasury earned an extra £225mil- lon in revenue from spirit drinkers in 2016, taking the total to £3.38billion. That compares to £3.32billion from beer.

Gin has become fashionable with the rise of artisan brands using new flavourings such as herbs and spices. Cheap gin was blamed on many social problems in the mid eighteenth century.