We received an email from the CEO of Majestic Wines about the proposed alcohol duty changes. The changes he mentioned were so ridiculous that I thought the email was a scam or fake news (to use an in phrase), but no, it is an actual proposal put forward by the previous government, which is still being promoted by the current lot.
The proposal is to "tax by strength" which doesn't seem too bad until you realise that they propose to have a separate duty charge for each 0.1% of ABV!!!
That would mean wines between 11.5% and 14.5% ABV would have 30 different duty rates. Given that wines from the same vineyard but from different years may well have different ABVs can you imagine the impact such a system will have on the producers and retailers.
A lesson on how to destroy business.
Reminds me of when our daughter in law was the accountant at a small printing company, even the visiting VAT inspector couldn't tell her what was VAT liable and what wasn't.
I presume those clever, intelligent people who work in the Treasury and the Ministers who think it is a good proposal have never lived in the real world.
For those interested here is an interesting article
https://wsta.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/WineEasementbrf072024.pdf In case anyone thinks I have a vested interest in the wine trade I can assure I haven't apart from being a moderate consumer of the products, I just despair of the over complicated systems that emanate from governments of all parties. They don't apply the KISS principle.
Apologies for the rant
