So the Budget has come and gone as predicted. Much as we might have predicted the Chancellor did absolutely nothing for single people on relatively low incomes such as myself, who've historically borne a disproportionate share of the tax burden. There's a surprise! In the main we might say that it was a fairly mundane affair - at least to those who slept through it and I'm assured plenty of MP's did just that.
For those who had one ear open though, there was plenty to catch out the unwary. Not content with punishing motorists - and the ones who live in rural areas often rely on their cars - he saw fit to launch a savage attack on the drinks industry and hospitality sector too. Fronted as an attempt to curb 'binge drinking' he decided to impose massive increases in Alcohol Excise Duty, not only for this year but at rates 2% aqbove the rate of inflation (whatever that might happen to be) for the next next four years.
As a policy designed to curb binge drinking we can be reasonably sure that it will fail lamentably. A preson who regularly goes out at night and drinks twelve pints (or their equivalent in wines and spirits) has got the sort of problems that no increases in Excise Duty are ever going to alleviate. What will happen is:
Light and moderate drinkers will think twice about buying a bottle of wine or dropping into their local for a couple of pints.
Village pubs which rarely get problem drinkers - and which increasingly struggle to survive - will go under.
The 'booze cruise' will take off in a way which it never has before, benefitting the French drinks industry at the expense of its British counterpart and, inevitably, costing the Treasury money.
This cannot be good either for the drinkers, the UK hospitality industry or the British economy.
For those who had one ear open though, there was plenty to catch out the unwary. Not content with punishing motorists - and the ones who live in rural areas often rely on their cars - he saw fit to launch a savage attack on the drinks industry and hospitality sector too. Fronted as an attempt to curb 'binge drinking' he decided to impose massive increases in Alcohol Excise Duty, not only for this year but at rates 2% aqbove the rate of inflation (whatever that might happen to be) for the next next four years.
As a policy designed to curb binge drinking we can be reasonably sure that it will fail lamentably. A preson who regularly goes out at night and drinks twelve pints (or their equivalent in wines and spirits) has got the sort of problems that no increases in Excise Duty are ever going to alleviate. What will happen is:
Light and moderate drinkers will think twice about buying a bottle of wine or dropping into their local for a couple of pints.
Village pubs which rarely get problem drinkers - and which increasingly struggle to survive - will go under.
The 'booze cruise' will take off in a way which it never has before, benefitting the French drinks industry at the expense of its British counterpart and, inevitably, costing the Treasury money.
This cannot be good either for the drinkers, the UK hospitality industry or the British economy.
