UK: Tax Alcohol More? YES!

Here in the UK the idea of increasing the tax on alcohol has once again risen it's head. Personally i think this is a fantastic idea. I'm not a tea totaller either, i sit here typing this with a glass of wine gracing my desk. However increasing the tax on alcohol will help people drink a little less. It's their right to drink as much as they like of course, and they still can if they can afford it.

The worrying part for me is the problems lying ahead. People drink now like never before. People always drank of course and to think anything else is ignorant, but seeing a town on a Saturday night shows a lot has changed, especially amongst female drinkers. We are setting our society up for a massive surge of medical complications due to alcohol consumption. People drink stupid amounts, often they intake their weekly allowance in one night. They vomit and see that as a good night, not realising they are vomiting because their body is responding to poisoning!

Liver failures, cirrhosis, fatty liver, heart problems and many other conditions will be increasing in the coming years and a bubble will occur in around 20 years when the drinking habits of so many finally take their toll. On top of that the kids who are drinking several bottles of extra strong cider every other night are going to be in a lot of trouble when in their mid 20's and earlier. The cost to the NHS, and therefore the tax payer will be huge.

Raising taxes means these kids and the adults who overdo it will have a much harder time in buying the alcohol. Maybe for the adults it will make them address their spending and so force them to cut back and the kids won't be able to get that money and so will have to cut back. Unless they turn to crime which is a possibility.

Still i just like the idea of taxing it more. I'm against stealth taxes and against to much taxation, but alcohol? We should tax it like cigarettes.

reply to post by ImaginaryReality1984


with all due respect to the legitimacy of your opinion (i like that you yourself are an avid sampler of the finer wines) and that you counter balance that by saying it's okay to raise taxes, here's my rebuttal:


Let's tax all of the following:

Sugar - it makes people fat

Salt - it makes people fat

Sex - it spreads disease and increases the population, thereby costing tax payers more money for resources to power things like planned parent hood, and welfare

Bottled Water - with a lack of minerals (and flouride) it's not doing too much to prevent tooth decay




of course, my list is created from a sarcastic manner.

I personally disagree with taxing things like vices.
I say - if you want to make more money - you make more vices.

Vices are something that only hurt YOU, they don't hurt anyone else. I don't believe self-infliction of anything upon yourself by yourself should be against the law (unless it has effects that cause harm on others.....like alcohol)

I'm not talking specifically of drugs of any kind, but things like prostitution, gambling, etc.

Allow the masses to have their fun - and everyone profits.

Probably a distorted sense of the world - but hey - it is what it is. Utopia is a dream, never anything more. (just my 2 cents)

Outlaw it or do nothing; these stealth measures never win any points with the people. Or you could do away with the nationalized health care which makes the lazy and useless in society the problem of the hard working person who already can barely make ends meet. Also if one sits idly by while items are outlawed via such measures as taxation rather than outright banning then they should have no room to talk when something they are in favor of finds itself facing the very same treatment later down the road.

feel free to ignore or gloss this one over, the author is not himself today

Don't be fooled with all this talk of pricing drink at a proposed 50p per unit of alcohol to combat excessive drinking mate, it is a cover up. The real reason, I believe, is that the UK Govt's TOTAL ban on indoor smoking has totally screwed public houses and caused them to close at a record level ever week. This current Labour team in charge will never admit that they should have given Pubs the choice to allocate an area of their premises to be designated to smokers only, with adequate ventilation provided. To counteract the massive increase of Supermarket sales of drink at the detriment of Pub sales, they are proposing this 50p levy to try to encourage drinkers back to Pubs. This I feel is a non starter as all of the major Supermarkets donate a huge amount to the Labour Party every year.

my 2p

I would take that arguement a step further

The decline of pubs - began with the public smoking ban (banned everywhere except the G8 summit & parliamentary bars)
Supposedly, an Approximate 2000 pubs per week are closing

The few that are hanging on, are facing the prospect of having to fit expensive CCTV cameras in their bars to watch the every move of their remaining patrons
LINK TO ARTICLE

This has got to be a deliberate attempt to sabotage the entire industry

WHY - because people meet, talk, discuss and rant about life in pubs - Potentially plan local uprisings, civil unrest etc.

Drinking has been traditionally associated with socialising - social events - If the prices rise, people can't afford to go out, so they drink at home - those who can afford to go out, don't drink as much - don't stay out as long - don't communicate as much.

It is - amongst other things - a tactic to separate and isolate us - imo

One of the problems with alcohol use is that the rest of society subsidizes its use. The tax should be used to offset the social cost of alcohol and nothing more. Otherwise government it profiting off human weakness, which would make government a criminal enterprise...

Oh! I forgot to mention, the real drug crime is profiting off human weakness. This is true whether its your local convenience store selling alcohol,tobacco,and caffeine, the Royal Family selling opium in China, or your local police, confiscating property.

I think there needs to be tighter regulation not a tax increase. Alcahol should not be able to be bought from a supermarket for starters. It should on be sold from pubs or liquor stores that are licensed. Supermarket alcahol is bought in bulk cheaply and the price gets cut further because a store can take 20p off of a alcaholic product and put it on to something they sell less of like washing up powder. Also there is no need to sell take away alcahol at all hours there should be opening and closing hours. A tax work.