Pre-Mixed Drink Taxes in Australia

I don't know where you're from, but these 'too sweet' pre-mixed drinks are most definetely consumed by those other than teenage girls.

The point is that the government are basically taking a cheap shot at Aussies. The whole binge prevention argument is a sham and in my opinion a very sneaky method of increasing the tax on alcohol across the board. It will probably be done over a few years but the outcome is obvious. It is also going to cause a lot of damage to young people.

Its funny you know.... The news articles I'm reading are saying that it hasn't yet been passed through the senate. The bottleshop managers I've spoken to me look at me like I'm crazy when I mention this saying, "Why do you think the prices have jumped so much?". Two of these mangers told me that the laws were passed TWO WEEKS AGO, give or take a few days.

Were talking a $6-8 increase per 6 pack. This is huge when you consider some stuff that was selling for $12 a few weeks ago is now $20.

You can bash booze all you like, but its beyond the point. All people are being affected by this, not just those young boys and girls.

PS: Thanks for the input guys, its good to see everyones perspective. I'm sticking to my opinion though.

[edit on 18-5-2008 by seenitall]

Listen what would you rather have liberal or labour?

Liberal government with there IR ( industrial relations ) made the poor, poorer
and the rich, richer! by killing off unions ( so the blue collar workers cant uprise to the employers that decided to rip off the workers) raise the taxes and drop the wages
every time we see on the evening news the price of fuel going through the roof and the former liberal government telling us " its the international price thats doing the damage" funny i always knew Australia has its own oil", if so then why do we need to pay the world price? so the former government could rip us of blind. when they came to power the fuel price was at $0.50 AUD / liter and
when we kicked their dirty backsides out, the price is what it is now $1.50 AUD/ Ltr.
Now we have a labour gov and all they have done is make the rich pay more taxes and tried to make the lives of new families a bit easier for them to cope and make it harder for the under developed brains of our teenagers
last a bit longer before they destroy themslves with drugs and alcohol.
well i tell you what the only ones winging about the taxes are the rich
and well off people! and all your worried about is paying $1 tax increase on
pre-mixed adult drinks.
Give them a chance they have been in power not even a year! and yet they've done quite a bit to fix the crap conditions that we were living under with the liberal party that nearly turned Australia into a nation of slaves to the system!

EDIT: If you really need to get blind on booze go to you local bottle shop and buy a cheap $15 bottle of booze and go to the supa-market and buy a bottle of coke for under 2 bucks. A standard 750ml bottle of booze makes 25 standard drinks and believe me the first 6 taste like crap but the next 19 will taste like water, why because you wont be able to tell the difference.


[edit on 18-5-2008 by ST SIR 86]

[edit on 18-5-2008 by ST SIR 86]

What dont teenagers have much of? MONEY in fact I'm betting that their money is provided by their parents as pocket or lunch money. so an increase in alcohol tax on sweet drinks equates to more cost therefore the young can buy less and therefore less damage to themselves. Thats the labour way of thinking with the new tax!
Show a little backbone will you, the kids of today are our future and we need to look out for them.

Originally posted by ST SIR 86
What dont teenagers have much of? MONEY in fact I'm betting that their money is provided by their parents as pocket or lunch money. so an increase in alcohol tax on sweet drinks equates to more cost therefore the young can buy less and therefore less damage to themselves. Thats the labour way of thinking with the new tax!
Show a little backbone will you, the kids of today are our future and we need to look out for them.

Most teenagers have part time jobs, so can afford alcohol.

Regardless, higher price wont stop them drinking, they will just get the money another way (steel it), or will move onto cheaper drinks to get drunk.

I just don’t see why I have to pay more for my drink because parents can’t control their kids or because their kinds can’t handle their drink.

Maybe the tax should only apply to Alcohol sold in bottle shops, I mean I only drink when I go to my nightclub, why should it be raised in there? You have to be 18 to get in, so no binge drinking teenagers in there! Plus if anything they should be looking at Beer and Wine, that’s what most teenagers get drunk on, because it’s cheap and you can even carry it around in that cheap aluminium bag.

Oh and just a note, I always find it funny when people call drinks like Smirnoff Ice black a “girly drink”, considering Smirnoff Ice has 7.0% Alcohol, compared to the little 4.x% that most beers have, hummm which seems more girly?



Mikey


[edit on 18/5/2008 by Mikey84]

what they should do is make the tax available only to people under the age
of 20 and at 20 years of age ,technically their not teenagers anymore!
this way its only teenagers that pay the tax and nobody else

[edit on 18-5-2008 by ST SIR 86]

Originally posted by ST SIR 86
EDIT: If you really need to get blind on booze go to you local bottle shop and buy a cheap $15 bottle of booze and go to the supa-market and buy a bottle of coke for under 2 bucks. A standard 750ml bottle of booze makes 25 standard drinks and believe me the first 6 taste like crap but the next 19 will taste like water, why because you wont be able to tell the difference.


[edit on 18-5-2008 by ST SIR 86]

[edit on 18-5-2008 by ST SIR 86]

Well, that is exactly my point. These kids are going to go for that option rather than the pre-mixed because it is cheaper. They are going to buy a bottle of some spirit and a mixer and go home and free-pour it themselves. Do you think they are going to stick to the standard 30mls or just pour like crazy to make the drink stronger?

They are just going to pour however much spirit that they want into a cup and it will result in even more and much worse binge drinking than we're seeing now. I feel that the Rudd Government knows this, and plan on eventually putting the tax on straight spirits too, to try and "prevent this new form of binge drinking". So the kids will go to wine or beer, which in turn will cause the Rudd Government to increase taxes on them too. I believe it has nothing, or little, to do with preventing binge drinking in todays youth, and everything to do with raising revenue for the government.

Raising taxes is not going to stop binge drinking, it is only going to raise money for the government.

Originally posted by ST SIR 86
what they should do is make the tax available only to people under the age
of 20 and at 20 years of age ,technically their not teenagers anymore!
this way its only teenagers that pay the tax and nobody else

[edit on 18-5-2008 by ST SIR 86]

I actually had that thought myself! But what is preventing adults from buying the drinks for the 18 and 19 year olds? (or younger)

I'm 21 and I still have friends aged 18 and 19, and as much as I agree with the idea of cutting out binge drinking I would definately buy them their drinks if it was going to save them a lot of money.

I actually had that thought myself! But what is preventing adults from buying the drinks for the 18 and 19 year olds? (or younger)


Did you know that suppling alcohol and cigarettes to minors is an offence
um if memory serves me it a $10,000 fine and or 6 months prison!

reply to post by ST SIR 86


I certainly did, I'm a bertender and I'm well aware of the laws of supplying minors with alcohol, but 18 and 19 year olds are not minors. They are well in their rights to have as many drinks as they choose.

I admit that when I turned 18 I bought a few of my 17 year old friends booze when we were going out to a party or something, but I no longer have any friends who are under age. And I stand by my statement that if the tax was passed to only 18 and 19 year olds then I would buy my friends of that age their drinks. They're not underage afterall, are they?

you know what your i didn't think of it that way, good point, then they would have to up the adult age to 20 or 21 and would put a lot of people out of place
with there age!

Hi guys, the pub I work in has drink prices as $9.50 for a can of jim beam/ bundy/ jackdaniels and a can of udl costs $8.00. Thats just in a pub! I have no idea how expensive they are now in a club, prob about $10 - $12.00. The issue I see happening here is that people will simply start turning to XTC and other drugs tp have their night out.

Average drinking: 7 - 12 drinks = $70 - $120.00
Average price for XTC tablet = $30.00

What do you think they will choose in the long run for a cheaper night out?

Silly silly move by the government. Simply a scapegoat for more revenue raising.

[edit on 13/05/2008 by just_julie]

reply to post by just_julie


That's exactly right. This is going to turn more young people to drugs, all while the government makes more and more money.

I just don't see how this benefits anyone other than Rudd.

Well I for one am bloody glad this is happening.

1. I don't drink chicks drinks, could care less as long as they don't tax beer. They taste like watered-down candy who gives a flyin' f...

2. I'm tired all of these little pissheads running around with Bacardi Breezers in hand at night, vandalizing stuff, starting fights, acting hard, burnouts, drifting, what-not etc...
Australia's had enough of this binge-drinking epidemic amongst young people, the whole "Being pissed, for the sake of being pissed" phase is seriously starting to wear thin.
These kids need to grow the hell up and learn a thing or two about the consequences of alcohol.

3. These types of drinks are aimed specifically at one demographic: Underage teens. The Alco Companies know exactly who their marketing this to. They taste and seem innocent enough so every 15 and 16 year old can gulp down 5 of them without hesitation.

4. Mix your own drinks! Is it that hard?

Nuff' Said.

The current price hike is due to greedy bottle shop owners, the new tax law hasn't been implemented yet. Same thing happens when the price of crude oil rises, gas stations automatically puts up their price before they even get it at the new price. EVERYONE's out to get us, including our gov, duhh

have u seen victory's new tough graffiti laws as of late.

They aren't really helping the youth either, just more money the government makes, while the kids start their life as bankrupt.

-26, 000

whats fines going to do to stop kids from doing graffiti, nothing! because once they get the first one nothing will stop them.

the government wants all your money.

Originally posted by styxxz
The current price hike is due to greedy bottle shop owners, the new tax law hasn't been implemented yet. Same thing happens when the price of crude oil rises, gas stations automatically puts up their price before they even get it at the new price. EVERYONE's out to get us, including our gov, duhh

I agree Australia has turned into the ripoff capital of the world and you know what the governments support it

reply to post by seenitall

you have obviously not seen it all as the consequences for teenage binge drinking can often mean death, this is from somebody who has seen it. The new tax may not stop teenagers binge drinking but at least it is drawing attention to the issue and alcopops due make drinking more attractive to a younger age group. If drinking is part of the aussie culture then maybe it is a culture that needs changing. I myslf engaged in binge drinking practises when i was in college but looking back on it see the dangerous situations i put myself in. we need to do whatever measures possible to protect and educate our young people

Binge drinking and death via cheaper straight spirits is much more likely than by pre-mixed drinks.

Yeah the pre mixers may make the alcohol easier to stomach, but when you're that age you don't really care.

If they have to swap they will.

*** It has nothing to do with education - its all about milking people for extra cash.



[edit on 26-5-2008 by seenitall]