Australia: Beer prices could go up after tax hike as from August 5

The cost of beer could be on the rise with the taxman set to hike up tariffs on the amber ale in Australia, 9News reported on August 3.

From August 5 the Australian Taxation Office will increase the tax on beer by 21 cents per litre on draft beer and 30 cents a litre on stubbies cans and long necks.

According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald the ATO increase on the liquor follows a twice-yearly increase in indexation.

The reported quoted a study from the University of Adelaide which found the biggest cost of a typical carton of full-strength beer, including GST, is a tax equating to 42 per cent.

The study, authored by Professor Kym Anderson, revealed Australians pay around 18 times more beer tax than Germany, 37.5 per cent more than Britons and eight times more than Americans.

Australia ranks fourth in the world on beer tax behind Norway, Japan and Finland.

The Brewers Association is pushing for the federal government to ease the pain on beer lovers.

Association boss Brett Heffernan said a proposed increase to the excise-free threshold on both draught and packaged beer was an "affordable option".

"Correcting our runaway and regressive beer tax regime is relatively quick, easy, cheap and long overdue," he told the media outlet.

Beer taxes poured more than A$3.6 billion into the federal budget's bottom line last year alone.

04 August, 2019