OZschwitz: Outrageous Statist Extortion--Booze blitz: alcopop tax lifted by 70%

FEDERAL taxes on pre-mixed alcoholic drinks were increased without warning at midnight last night by 70% under a Rudd Government plan to fund a new preventive health program and tackle binge-drinking among teenagers, particularly girls.

The tax hike — the first for the Labor Government — is expected to raise more than $2 billion in extra revenue over the next four years.

A senior Government source last night confirmed that part of the windfall would be used to fund Australia's largest ever investment in preventive health, focusing on alcohol, smoking, diet and exercise. It is believed that the plan, to be known as the National Preventative Health Strategy, will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, with the amount to be finalised in the May 13 federal budget.

Under the tax increase, the level of excise charged on the increasingly popular pre-mixed drinks — also known as "alcopops" — has leapt from $39.36 per litre of alcohol content to $66.67.

It means alcopops are now taxed at the same rate as spirits, closing a loophole introduced with the GST in 2000 whereby the excise is lower when the product is purchased pre-mixed than when it is mixed fresh.

Drink prices will increase by between 30 cents and $1.30 a bottle, depending on the level of alcohol.

The move comes as figures reveal alarmingly high levels of consumption of the popular mixes among teenage girls.

LNK

Thieving statist bastards!

OZschwitz: Outrageous Statist Extortion--Booze blitz: alcopop tax lifted by 70%

OZschwitz: Outrageous Statist Extortion--Booze blitz: alcopop tax lifted by 70%

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