Cutting beer tax not the solution to cost-of-living pressures

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Lead Economist Dr Angela Jackson writes in The Age about the proposal to cut the excise on beer in the upcoming Budget.

Taxation and the pricing of alcohol plays an important role in minimising harm, alongside availability of alcohol in different settings and cultural norms around alcohol use. But Australia’s system of taxing alcohol is a mess, with vastly different tax rates applied to alcohol in different products. The alcohol in full strength beer is currently taxed at a rate almost ten times higher than the alcohol in cask wine. As a result, you can get drunk for as little as $1 in Australia, a price too low if you are serious about minimising harm.