Woolpack Dave's Beer and Stuff - Stop the Beer Duty Escalator
Visit the Woolpack Dave's Beer and Stuff site
I've said before, I'm not sure that beer duty isn't actually a good thing for pubs. Equally, more expensive craft beer suffers less than lower priced beer. The more you pay per pint, litre, or whatever, the less of a proportion of the price goes in duty and more goes into the quality of the beer, or the quality of the pub you drink it in.
It is also true that the duty escalator is applied to all types of alcohol. Wine, whisky and even the ridiculously low cider duty is still escalated by 2% above inflation. S,o I'm not sure why everyone is calling it the Beer Duty Escalator.
Never-the-less, beer duty has very nearly doubled in the last 10 years, most of the increases have happened since I started in the beer industry. Microbrewers, despite getting a discount, now pay nearly the same amount of duty that large brewers paid when I started to brew. Larger brewers must really now be feeling the pain.
Which ever way you look at it, it is not good.
There was an e-Petition set up on the Governments official petition site. Originally by the Goblin haunted Wychwood Brewery was behind the petition, but CAMRA then took up the cudgels big time.
There are a few issues I have with the exact wording of the petition. For instance, dropping the duty rate isn't going to help the pub over supermarkets. The continual use of the word tradition as an excuse for reducing beer duty.
It is a fact that duty is a tax that has seen the costs of producing alcohol increase significantly for producers big and small.
CAMRA have firmly taken hold of the torch and are running like a good'un. Yes, I'm not so sure I condone the rhetoric, but it's one that will work with many who do like a good pint, so why not?
CAMRA have even launched a web site where you can order posters and beer mats. Go on, do it, it doesn't cost anything, and then get the posters up in your local and spread the beer mats about.
I want this petition to reach 100,000 signatures and make the Government reassess its duty escalator. If we don't when will they stop the escalator?
Please sign the petition and please get anyone else you know to do so too.https://blogger.googleusercontent.co...t.blogspot.com
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