Now that the smoke has cleared away from
Christmas and the New Year celebrations we start to look forward to the late
winter and spring tastings put on by our suppliers. It’s part of the planning process to fill
gaps in the list and to discover new lines and new growers, as well as
consolidating existing relationships with more familiar faces. In short it’s time to go shopping and, as
it’s the only type of shopping either of us can manage with a smile, it is
usually fun. Sometimes it’s challenging
or frustrating, but when we have written off the non-starters and filtered
through the shortlist to emerge with a clutch of exciting fresh ideas for the
Wines of Interest 2014/15 Wine List, we are confident that you, dear customer,
will have plenty to get your teeth into over the coming year.
Part of that process necessarily involves
costing. Obviously we would like to make
a modest turn out of it - you can’t feed and clothe the children by giving it
away. One thing is for certain here and
that is that no matter how much we sell, nobody makes more out of our labours
than the government and it is the government which makes the major contribution
to the expense of your favourite tipple.
Now, we all know that education, the NHS, the armed forces, the police
and so on must be paid for somehow and that the principle of paying tax is
sound, so we are not griping about excise per
se. Thus as Williamson bashes his
calculator and redraws his spreadsheets after the spring budget, we understand
why our industry is required to stump up, but what does irk is just how much. Have a little trundle through some revealing
figures to see the extent that we are lent on by No. 11 Downing Street….
Did you know that the wine and spirit
industries are worth £20 billion annually to the British economy and support,
directly or indirectly, £40 billion of economic activity in the UK? The UK alcohol industries (ghastly
description but you catch our drift) support nearly 2 million jobs in
total. Worth encouraging wouldn’t you
think?
Since the introduction of the alcohol duty
escalator in 2008 by Mr. Darling, wine taxation has risen by 50% and spirits by
44%, of which 25% for both categories was imposed by nice Mr. Osborne who
picked up the baton when it became his turn.
Tax now accounts for 79% of an average-priced bottle of spirits and 57%
of an average bottle of wine. This will
increase to over 80% on spirits and 60% on wine if the escalator is retained
for 2014. Don’t forget that every time
the excise duty increases as part of our cost, the retail selling price also
contains a growing amount of VAT. You
pay a tax on a tax.
As we stand now, the UK accounts for 38.8% of all duty paid in the EU
– more than France, Germany, Italy
and Spain
combined. Phew!
Next time you hear the talking heads
pontificating about the UK’s
alcohol problems, putting such troubles down to the cheapness of booze in this
country, remember these statistics.
What beats me is just how the constant
milking of our industry to this punitive degree squares up with government’s
declared intent to create jobs and support growth. It doesn’t look that way from here. With the chancellor’s budget booked for March
19th the spectre of another increase looms large and, as the duty
escalator’s rate is set at 2% over inflation, we could be looking at another
significant hike.
This is not a partisan, anti-government
rant; all the parties of whatever political hue have been equally unsympathetic
to our trade down the years. The fact
remains that the UK,
whilst apparently enjoying a modest measure of economic improvement, remains
pretty well immersed in the proverbial cess pit, wherever you wish to lay the
blame for that. Thus we understand why
tax revenues need to be guarded and we understand why the national belt has had
to be tightened. What we don’t
understand is why our industry, which shows such obvious benefits to the
nation, should once again be clobbered like no other sector that we can think
of, which results in the long term stifling of one of our more successful
industries and contributors of revenue.
In short, we’ve paid already. Go and fleece somebody else for a change,
George. Oh, and don’t defer it for a
year, DO IT NOW.
If any of you feel similarly but do not
know where to express that frustration, please go to http://action.calltimeonduty.com/ hosted by the Wine and Spirit Trade
Association and endorsed by The TaxPayers’ Alliance, where you can find out more about
this issue and send a pre-prepared, electronic letter to your local MP. The words and major points are already there
for you so please feel free to make your voice heard. There’s an election in the offing and the
current incumbents could do with a splash of popularity so it may well be a
good time to nudge the chancellor in this direction. If he sees sense but leaves it any later and
it’ll look like a bribe.
Of course, if you actively wish to pay more
for your booze and see further hurdles shoved in front of your favourite pub or
restaurant and the vital tourist industry, please feel equally free not to do
this…..
(Data sourced from Harpers Wine & Spirit
Magazine, January 2014, issue 113)
