Almost 80% Of The Price Of A Bottle Of Scotch Whisky Is Tax

[Quaich1]

An interesting article in The Economic Voice. More on this topic that has been raised here.

http://www.economicvoice.com/almost-80-percent-of-the-price-of-a-bottle-of-scotch-whisky-is-taxation/
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"Always carry a large flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake."
W.C. Fields (1880-1946)

[bifter]

It's a sad state of affairs, especially given the history of Scotch. Distillers operated on the wrong side of the law until the excise act of 1823 introduced a proportionate rate of duty. The spirit of that compromise (no pun intended) seems to have been lost somewhat.
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"Whisky is liquid sunshine."
[George Bernard Shaw]

[Mark]

It angers me when i see how much the government makes out of my pleasure. I signed up for the Call Time on Duty campaign last month when William posted about it on here.

[eelbrook]

Let's say take the new "Glenmorangie Companta", which will retail at around £70 and is 46%ABV.

Value Added Tax = £11.66 (ie £70 x 20/120)
Spirits Duty = £9.08 (ie £28.22 per litre of alcohol x 0.7 litres x 0.46 ABV)

So, tax effectively borne by the end consumer (ie VAT & Duty) totals £20.76, which is actually just 29.6% of the £70 retail price (although I accept that the Exchequer will get a bit more in Corporation Tax).

I can only see the 80% tax burden applying to 'bargain basement' supermarket blends and the like, which I'm guessing don't feature often in our drinks cabinets.

[bifter]

[albo]

You have both chosen drinks to suit your argument when it coke to prices. To be fair the Glenmo is not a representative price point though nor is the bells, at least on this the malt whisky part of the forum. A better choice would be something like an HP12 or Talisker 10.

I don't have the inclination to do the math on these lets say £30 malts. But that would give a fairer outcome for us refined lot in here.

I agree that there is easy to much tax in a bottle of whisky but the 80% figure is a scare figure pitched at the lowest end. I understand this is where the majority of whisky is sold but certainly for this forum there are not many who shop doen here.

So does someone want to work out a £30 bottle and we can use that as our baseline. Oh and given we malt snobs turn our noses up a chill filtration lets say the abv is 46%

[eelbrook]

To be fair, my closing paragraph did accede that "80% tax" might apply to 'bargain basement' supermarket blends, which I fully accept make up the lion's share of bottles sold in the UK.

I accept though that my Glenmo. example was somewhat pricey.

So, here's the maths for a perhaps more typical single malt at £35 and 46% ABV..

Value Added Tax = £5.83 (ie £35 x 20/120)
Spirits Duty = £9.08 (ie £28.22 per litre of alcohol x 0.7 litres x 0.46 ABV)

So, tax effectively borne by the end consumer (ie VAT & Duty) totals £14.91, which is 42% of the £35 retail price.

Broadly, because duty is a fixed amount per litre of alcohol, the percentage tax burden decreases the more expensive the whisky.

[5-12-1908]

Its the same with beer....and petrol, they all complain bitterly about Tax being the root of all evil and the reason it costs so much.......






.......Then quietly post record profits year in year out.